View source for Chapter 17 Revealing the Mystery of Babylon the Great and the Beast

====Chapter 17 Revealing the Mystery of Babylon the Great and the Beast====
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4">1<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the Great Whore that sitteth upon many waters:"</font></li>
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<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Both Chapter 17 and the following chapter describe the destruction of</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Babylon the Great"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5), i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"I will shew unto thee the judgment of the Great Whore"</font><font size="4">(17:1); but, this chapter sets the stage for that destruction by revealing to us the identities of both Babylon the Great and the Beast, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the Beast that carrieth her"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:7). Many commentators agree that ecclesiastical, political, and economic Babylon are described in this pair of chapters. However, the difficulty of interpreting the two chapters lies in distinguishing the spheres of influence of both the Great Whore and the Antichrist, since they overlap and are intertwined through their spiritual fornication.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Nahum 3:4). That their conduct is illicit, can be seen through the name given by the Holy Spirit to Babylon the Great, i.e., the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Great Whore</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Greek, porne, also translated as harlot]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:1).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">17<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">18<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Deuteronomy 23:17-18).<br>
      <br>
      An angel,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"one of the seven angels which had the seven vials"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:1), is seen here instructing the Apostle John concerning the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"judgment of the Great Whore"</font><font size="4">(17:1). She is described as sitting</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"upon many waters"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>and</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>sitting astride the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast that carrieth her"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:7). Just as Antichrist arises</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"out of the sea"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(13:1)-- signifying that he will emerge out of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"isles of the Gentiles"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 10:5)-- the Great Whore sits</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"upon a scarlet coloured beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3)-- signifying that she both derives her power from the Antichrist and exerts controlling influence over him-- a symbiotic relationship.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(1Corinthians 6:16). Historically, the Roman Catholic Church has been noted to have this whorish relationship between Established Religion and State, and as mammoth as Rome is today; the Roman Pontiff would need to elevate himself even more to continue the prophetic destiny of the Church of Rome-- most probably through the recent inauguration of the United Religions.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 4:17).</font></p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">2</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>With whom the Kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."</font></li>
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<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Why have the Kings of the Earth committed spiritual fornication with Babylon the Great? Just as physical fornication is intercourse between unmarried partners, spiritual fornication is an illicit departure from God for the gratification of self.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to Me, saith the LORD"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 3:1). Rulers have both their own sense of religion for themselves, as well as their understanding of what religious sense motivates their people, which they must harness to establish their kingdom.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">24</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">25<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Mark 3:24-25). An example of how the religious sense of a ruler converted the king, but not the kingdom, is that of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">34<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto Heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">37<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 4:34, 37).<br>
      <br>
      The spiritual fornication of the kings is most often the spiritual temperament of the people, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hosea 4:9). Kings not only enforce the Law, but they lead by their example-- for good or for ill.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"With whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:2). Regardless of the actual form of government, rulers understand that their government requires the support of the people, and often make their decisions based upon the will of the people-- without concern for what is right.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">13<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">14</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>said unto them, Ye have brought This Man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined Him before you, have found no fault in This Man touching those things whereof ye accuse Him:</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>15<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[along with Jesus, to make your allegations against Him]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto Him.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>16</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>I will therefore chastise Him, and release Him.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>17</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(For of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast.)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">18<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And they cried out all at once, saying, Away with This Man, and release unto us Barabbas:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">19<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">(Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and for murder, was cast into prison.)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">20</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">21<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">But they cried, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>22</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And he said unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath He done? I have found no cause of death in Him: I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>23</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that He might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>24<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>25</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And he released unto them him that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired; but he delivered Jesus to their will"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Luke 23:13-25).</font></p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">3</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured Beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns."</font></li>
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<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">We are here reminded that the Apostle John was given a series of visions in the Apocalypse, for one of the seven angels of the Vial Judgments carries him<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"away in the Spirit"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3) to see a third vision of Christ climaxing His judgment of the world (17:1-21:8).</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Why was this vision given to John in the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"wilderness"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3)? In this instance, the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"wilderness"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:3) seems to indicate the theme of judgment.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"How is the hammer of the whole Earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Jeremiah 50:23). The Great Whore (17:1) is the woman that sits upon the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"scarlet coloured Beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:1). The</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seven heads"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(12:3) of the Dragon signify seven governments, kingdoms, or empires, from which the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten horns"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(12:3) or ten different rulers reign, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 7:24).<br>
      <br>
The phrase</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"full of names of blasphemy"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3) indicates that both the Great Whore and her paramour the Beast are full of evil speaking against our LORD Christ,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 9:5). Though sin is plainly the despising of the Law of Love, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"sin is the transgression of the Law"</font><font size="4">(1John 3:4), how anyone could loathe the God who is love, is truly a mystery. But, the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"mystery of iniquity doth already work"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Thessalonians 2:7). Or, as the Apostle John informs us,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Little children, it is the Last Time: and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the Last Time"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1John 2:18). Virulent hatred of God exists in the world, because God in His wisdom has allowed moral agents to exercise their Godlike image, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"in the image of God made He man"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 9:6), for or against Himself; however, it is the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"goodness and forbearance and longsuffering"</font><font size="4">(Romans 2:4) of God that brings any of us unto</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"repentance"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2:4). That Loving Longsuffering of God that seeks our repentance, is even more unfathomable than the blackest sin and blasphemy of the Great Whore herself.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">17<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">18<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>19</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Ephesians 3:17-19).</font></p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">4</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:"</font></li>
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<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Great Whore is</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:4), indicating an opulence unknown to the vast majority of the world, but so easily identifiable with the ecclesiastical pomp of the Church of Rome.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">7<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">16<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Revelation 18:7, 16). What justification does the Church have to impress the ungodly with worldly displays of wealth in the name of seeking the salvation of their souls? None whatsoever!</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Luke 9:58). Neither pageantry to impress the benighted masses or woo the overindulged elite, justifies the ostentation that places the emphasis upon the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1John 2:16). Only with the greatest caution and understanding could any successful ministry justify the building of<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>any</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>superstructure that would potentially overpower the hearts of the Faithful.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">7<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Two things have I required of Thee; deny me them not before I die:</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>8<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">9<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">lest I be full, and deny Thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 30:7-9).<br>
      <br>
      A gilded cup is held by the Whore,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:4). The cup is gold, which is lawful for all to possess, but its contents of disobedience and rebellion are deceptively marketed to mankind as good and right-- and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>not</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>the self-seeking, self-loving, self-gratifying, God-hating thing that it really is.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"O love the LORD, all ye His Saints... for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalms 31:23; 136:1). The Whore seeks to entrap mankind to gratify herself, as well as justify her actions.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">4<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">5</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Doth not behave itself unseemly,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>seeketh not her own</b>, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Corinthians 13:4-5). As long as we</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"walk in love"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Ephesians 5:2), it is unfathomable that all men would not likewise love the Blessed LORD with all their heart, soul, and mind; but, Scripture has wisely depicted evil to give the Innocent Saints the necessary understanding of our enemy, which is the Whore.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil"</font><font size="4">(Romans 16:19).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Corinthians 2:11). Those who refuse to separate themselves from the Whore, become partakers of her evil deeds, and are justly worthy of her punishments.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 18:4).</font></p>
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<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">5</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Why should the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 11:2) inspire the Apostle John to record that Babylon the Great is</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5)? The ziggurats of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and the Mayan people of Central America indicate the antiquity of such structures as the Tower of Babel-- built like the Egyptian pyramids in receding tiers, often of sun-baked bricks, e.g.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 11:3). These ziggurats normally had shrines at the top, which indicated their use for religious worship. One of the most ancient examples of these ziggurats was discovered in Erech, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the beginning of</font><font size="4">[Nimrod's]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(10:10), dating more than 3,000 years before Christ. For this reason, Babylon the Great would be viewed as the Fountainhead of Idolatry and Spiritual Harlotry and</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5), since the time of Noah's Flood.<br>
      <br>
      The very name Babylon is also translated as Babel in the Old Testament.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">8<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the Earth.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>9<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[literally, rebellion]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">the mighty hunter before the LORD.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">10<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#000000">[literally, confusion]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 10:8-10). Subsequently, the building on a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"plain in the land of Shinar"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(11:2). of a</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(11:4); was devised to exalt man and not God.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">11</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>12<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 49:11-12). Jehovah's judgment was to scatter and confuse them, because the intent of the builders of the Tower of Babel was not only to exalt the name of man, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"let us make us a name"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Genesis 11:4), but to refuse obedience to the Almighty's command to</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(9:1)-- which implies populating and overspreading the Earth-- as can be seen in their concern that they would</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(11:4).<br>
      <br>
      It is typical of a prostitute to know</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"no shame"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Zephaniah 3:5), inasmuch that Scripture speaks of a</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"whore's forehead"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 3:3), i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 6:15). John Gill (1809) recorded that some harlots of ancient times impudently advertised their names over their doors, as well as upon their foreheads. But, the name emblazoned<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>by God</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>upon the forehead of the Whore,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5), makes simple her identification.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 14:6). The Greek word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>musterion</i>, which is translated</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"<i>MYSTERY"</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:5), is capitalized by the translators of the King James Version as part of the title</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"BABYLON THE GREAT"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5); however, it<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>may</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>only be an adjective describing the woman's title, e.g.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Babylon the great"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(18:2). John Wesley also reminds us,</font><font size="4" color="#440000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"This very word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"MYSTERY"</font><font size="4">]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#440000">was inscribed on the front of the Pope's mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(from Wesley's comments on Revelation 17:5 in his "Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament" [1765].)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>In his classic expose on Romanism, Alexander Hislop (1809-1865), a Scottish Free Church minister, wrote,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#440000">"There never has been any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in identifying the woman 'sitting on seven mountains,' and having on her forehead the name written, 'Mystery, Babylon the Great,' with the Roman apostacy"</font><font size="4">(from the Introduction to "The Two Babylons: Or, The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife" [1853].) It has been a common position of Christians since the Reformation to view Roman Catholicism as a corruption of the Primitive Church, and a torch bearer of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"mystery of iniquity"</font><font size="4">(2Thessalonians 2:7) that has polluted the world from Ancient Babylon to the present. Henry Alford (1857) saw Roman Catholicism in the BABYLON THE GREAT of this passage:</font><font size="4" color="#440000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"I do not hesitate therefore, induced mainly by these considerations, which will be confirmed as we proceed step by step in the prophecy, to maintain that interpretation which regards papal and not pagan Rome as pointed out by the harlot of this vision"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(from "Alford's Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary," IV, p. 705.)</font><font size="4"><br>
      <br>
      What will be the final form of Babylon the Great? We can be sure that the Whore:</font></p>
<blockquote style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be personified as</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"the False Prophet"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Revelation 16:13). Since Babylon the Great only rides the Beast, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[the Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3), she is not to be confused with the Beast himself. Her intimacy with the Beast stems from her need for the governmental power of the Beast to assure her a monopolistic religious franchise, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"as many as would not worship the image of the Beast should be killed"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(13:15).<br>
        <br>
    </font>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will promote the worship of the Antichrist., i.e., Babylon the Great</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"exerciseth all the power of the first beast</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>before him, and causeth the Earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 13:12). Babylon the Great's ingenious device will be forcing the world to take the Mark of the Beast, which assures the participation of every human being in the world in the religion of Babylon the Great in exchange for life and its physical necessities.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">16<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the False Prophet]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">17</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(13:16-17).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will spiritually fornicate with the kings of the Earth, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"With whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:2), because, as with the Antichrist, she needs their help to force her religion upon the world. Her spiritual fornication is that she will champion the violation of the Most High God's Law of Love.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 22:37, 39).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(4)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be blasphemous, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Babylon the Great]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">had power to give life unto the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak... full of names of blasphemy"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(13:15; 17:3).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">10<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart...</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>21<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 7:10, 21).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(5)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be materially rich, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Revelation 17:4).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(6)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be a murderer of the True Saints, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of Jesus"</font><font size="4">(Revelation 17:6).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(7)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will reign over the people of the world, i.e., the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication... The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:2, 15).<br>
    <br>
  </font>(8)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be characterized as a city, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:18). Alexander Hislop recorded:</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills. Pagan poets and orators, who had not thought of elucidating prophecy, have alike characterised it as 'the seven hilled city.' Thus Virgil refers to it: 'Rome has both become the most beautiful (city) in the world, and alone has surrounded for herself seven heights with a wall.' Propertius, in the same strain, speaks of it (only adding another trait, which completes the Apocalyptic picture) as 'The lofty city on seven hills, which governs the whole world.' Its 'governing the whole world' is just the counterpart of the Divine statement--'which reigneth over the kings of the earth' (Rev 17:18). To call Rome the city 'of the seven hills' was by its citizens held to be as descriptive as to call it by its own proper name. Hence Horace speaks of it by reference to its seven hills alone, when he addresses, 'The gods who have set their affections on the seven hills.' Martial, in like manner, speaks of 'The seven dominating mountains.' In times long subsequent, the same kind of language was in current use; for when Symmachus, the prefect of the city, and the last acting Pagan Pontifex Maximus, as the Imperial substitute, introduces by letter one friend of his to another, he calls him 'De septem montibus virum'--'a man from the seven mountains,' meaning thereby, as the commentators interpret it, 'Civem Romanum,' 'A Roman Citizen.' Now, while this characteristic of Rome has ever been well marked and defined, it has always been easy to show, that the Church which has its seat and headquarters on the seven hills of Rome might most appropriately be called 'Babylon,' inasmuch as it is the chief seat of idolatry under the New Testament, as the ancient Babylon was the chief seat of idolatry under the Old"</font><font size="4">(from the Introduction to "The Two Babylons: Or, The Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife" [1853].)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(9)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be destroyed by the Antichrist, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the Whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:16).<br>
        <br>
  </font>(10)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Will be judged by the Almighty God. i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:17).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Consequently, identification of Papal Rome, i.e., Roman Catholicism, with Babylon the Great, and the Pope with the False Prophet, are both historically accurate and prophetically most probable.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He will render unto her a recompence"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 51:6). Though the Roman Pontiff has adopted the wait-and-see Gamaliel approach to the June 2000 chartering of the United Religions Initiative (URI), if the Almighty soon chooses to remove His watching and waiting Saints by Pre-Tribulational Rapture, then the events of the ensuing Tribulation Week will take away the necessity of a voluntary, interfaith URI.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 18:4). Of course, the events of the Tribulation Week will mean that the Pope must mandate the worship of the Antichrist</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"in the midst of the week"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 9:27), if he continues to pursue the headship of world worship, namely as the False Prophet.</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">6</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>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."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The refinement of True Christian Character<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>demands</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>a suffering that even Babylon the Great has unwittingly provided.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">3<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">4</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>and patience, experience; and experience, hope:</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>5</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 5:3-5). As distasteful to our flesh as any kind of suffering is, we do not seek tribulation, but neither should we avoid it, if the path of loving obedience directs us under its blows or through its flames.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Colossians 1:24). As the Apostle John said,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1John 3:13); therefore, his reaction to the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"woman drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:6) was that when he</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"saw her,</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[he]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">wondered with great admiration</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[literally, wondered with great wonder]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:6). The Greek word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>thaumazo</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>means to wonder with great wonder or astonishment. And, what astonished the Apostle John? That the world would hate the True Saints, was clearly understood by John; therefore, his astonishment must have been that the Great Whore was seen by the world as representing True Religion,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>while</i><i>persecuting</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>the True Church-- and, it may be added, with the greatest intensity and thoroughness ever allowed by the Almighty.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 48:10).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God"</font><font size="4">(Zechariah 13:9).<br>
      <br>
      The intimacy and similarity between the Antichrist and the False Prophet, the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast out of the Sea"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 13:1) and the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast out of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(13:11),</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Mystery, Babylon the Great"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:5) and the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"scarlet coloured Beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:3), made confusion between the two likely for the Protestant Reformers, whose vantage forced their conclusion; and especially, their position is understandable, since the False Prophet</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"exerciseth all the power of the first beast<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[the Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4">(13:12).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>For the present, whether the Roman Pontiff is identified as the False Prophet and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><b>not</b><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>the Antichrist, is of small consequence, since both epitomize the pinnacle of human evil.</i></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the Saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:6). It is a task of mind boggling proportions to recount the depths of savagery inflicted upon the Body of Christ by Babylon the Great under the sponsorship of the Church of Rome.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world"</font><font size="4">(John 16:33). "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" (1563) contains eyewitness accounts of Rome's atrocities; and, it continues to be attacked by Roman Catholics as a dishonest and untrustworthy portrayal by John Foxe (1516-1587) of the suffering of the Reformers, as well as vilified as containing grotesque stories of popes and monks with, as they ridicule, a motley succession of witnesses to the truth.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 3:20). The histories of the Waldensians, Albigensians, Lollards, Hussites, Huguenots, etc. are only representative of how bloodthirsty Rome may treat her heretics; but, even more, the fires of the Inquisition have touched untold numbers.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 14:22).<br>
      <br>
      As history witnesses, it has been the common position of the Protestant Reformers and many noted Christians since the Reformation, to identify the Pope as the Antichrist:</font></p>
<blockquote style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">John Wycliffe (1330-1384) (Precursor of the Reformation):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"Wycliffe had come into communication with the Italian, Spanish, and French dignitaries of the Church, who enjoyed the confidence of the Pope and the cardinals. There was given him an insight into a circle which would not have readily opened to his view in his own country. Other lessons too he had been learning, unpleasant no doubt, but most important. He had not been so far removed from the Papal court but he could see the principles that reigned there, and the motives that guided its policy. If he had not met the Pope he had met his representatives, and he had been able to read the master in his servants; and when he returned to England it was to proclaim on the house-tops what before he had spoken in the closet. Avarice, ambition, hypocrisy, these were the gods that were worshipped in the Roman curia &ndash; these were the virtues that adorned the Papal throne. So did Wycliffe proclaim. In his public lectures he now spoke of the Pope as 'Antichrist, the proud worldly priest of Rome...'"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(excerpted from "The History of Protestantism" by J. A. Wylie.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Martin Luther (1483-1546) (Lutheran):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"In another way the decree of the Pope helped to overthrow the system it was meant to uphold. It compelled Luther to go deeper than he had yet ventured to do in his investigations into the Papacy. He now looked at its foundations. The doctrine of indulgences in its sacrilegious and blasphemous form he had believed to be the doctrine of Tetzel only; now he saw it to be the doctrine of Leo of Rome as well. Leo had endorsed Tetzel's and Cajetan's interpretation of the matter. The conclusion to which Luther's studies were tending is indicated in a letter which he wrote about this time to his friend Wenceslaus Link at Nuremberg: 'The conviction is daily growing upon me,' says he, 'that the Pope is Antichrist'"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(excerpted from "The History of Protestantism" by J. A. Wylie.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">John Knox (1505-1572) (Scotch Presbyterian):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"Knox preached in the castle, and at times also in the parish church of St. Andrews. In his first sermon in the latter place he struck the key-note of the Reformation in his native land. The Church of Rome, said he, is the Antichrist of Scripture. No movement can rise higher than its fundamental principle, and no doctrine less broad than this which Knox now proclaimed could have sustained the weight of such a Reformation as Scotland needed"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(excerpted from "The History of Protestantism" by J. A. Wylie.) Agreeing with Luther, Knox finally concluded that the Papacy was "the very antichrist, and son of perdition, of whom Paul speaks" (from "The Zurich Letters" by John Knox, pg. 199.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(4)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">John Calvin (1509-1564) (Presbyterian):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"Some persons think us too severe and censorious when we call the Roman pontiff Antichrist. But those who are of this opinion do not consider that they bring the same charge of presumption against Paul himself, after whom we speak and whose language we adopt... I shall briefly show that Paul's words (in II Thess. 2) are not capable of any other interpretation than that which applies them to the Papacy"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(taken from "Institutes of the Christian Religion" by John Calvin.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(5)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Cotton Mather (1663-1728) (Congregational Theologian):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"The oracles of God foretold the rising 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 any who read the Scriptures do not see it, there is a marvelous blindness upon them"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(from "The Fall of Babylon" by Cotton Mather.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(6)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">John Wesley (1703-1791) (Methodist): Speaking of the Papacy, John Wesley wrote,</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"He is in an emphatical sense, the Man of Sin, as he increases all manner of sin above measure. And he is, too, properly styled the Son of Perdition, as he has caused the death of numberless multitudes, both of his opposers and followers... He it is...that exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped...claiming the highest power, and highest honour...claiming the prerogatives which belong to God alone"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(from "Antichrist and His Ten Kingdoms" by John Wesley, pg. 110.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>(7)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Charles Chiniquy (1809-1899) (Former Roman Catholic Priest, speaking of his struggle to find Christ):</font></p>
  <blockquote>
    <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"Thus, as the unexpected contradictions of the Holy Fathers to the tenets of my church, and their furious and uncharitable divisions among themselves, were striking me, I plunged deeper and deeper in the deep waters of the Fathers and the Word of God, with the hope of getting rid of the deadly darts which were piercing my Roman Catholic conscience. But, it was in vain. The deeper I went, the more the deadly weapons would stick to the flesh and bone of my soul. How deep was the wound I received from Gregory the Great, one of the most learned Popes of Rome, against the supremacy and universality of the power of the Pope of Rome as taught today, the following extracts from his writings will show: 'I say confidently, Whosoever calls himself Universal Priest, or desires so to be called, is in his pride the forerunner of Antichrist, because, in his pride, he sets himself before the rest'"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(from "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" by Charles Chiniquy.)</font></p>
  </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">However, it is certain that even Rome could<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>not</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>eradicate all of the godly through martyrdom, for Christ promised that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"gates of hell shall not prevail against"</font><font size="4">(Matthew 16:18) the True Church; and, though at times, it is difficult to believe otherwise, Rome could<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>not</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>martyr but a small portion of the True Saints, for the LORD of the Lampstands has promised Suffering Smyrna,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>some</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 2:10).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">36<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>37<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>38</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the Earth.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">39<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the Promise:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">40<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hebrews 11:36-40).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">7</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>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."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The angel of this verse is</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"one of the seven angels which had the seven vials"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:1).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Wherefore didst thou marvel?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:7), he asked. Or, why were you amazed? This is spoken not as a rebuke, but the angel prepares John for the revelation of the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"mystery of the woman, and of the Beast that carrieth her"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:7). The explanation must have been agreeable to the First Century mind of John, for we have it on the word of an angel of God that the clarification was given, i.e.,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"I will tell thee the mystery"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:7). Though we may prefer the angel to have given the explicit names of people and organizations that we may glean from current events, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Tell us plainly"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 10:24), it was necessary to describe the Antichrist and False Prophet in more general, spiritual terms-- requiring the indwelling Spirit of God to make the specific application to the hearts and minds of the readers at the appropriate time.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Corinthians 2:10).<br>
      <br>
      The Beasts of the Apocalypse:</font></p>
<blockquote style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">The four angelic seraphim around the throne of God (Revelation 4:6-9; 5:6, 8, 11, 14; 14:3; 15:7; 19:4) are the godly</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"four beasts"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:1)--</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"second beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:3),<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"third beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:5), and<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"fourth beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:7)-- who are delegated the task of announcing, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Come and see"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:1, 3, 5, 7), the first four Seal Judgments (6:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8), and opening the Second, Third, and Fourth Seal Judgments. The Greek word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>zoon</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>speaks here of living creatures, not wild animals (Greek,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>therion</i>)<i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></i>And, these are the same<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"four living creatures"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Ezekiel 1:5), i.e., living creatures like a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"lion... calf... a man, and... a flying eagle"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 4:7), of the prophet Ezekiel's vision.<i><br>
          <br>
    </i></font>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Actual wild animals<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>(therion)</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>or<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"beasts of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:8) are described as part of the instruments used by the Almighty in connection with His killing of one-fourth of the human population of the planet under the Fourth Seal Judgment.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beasts"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(18:13) are also listed as part of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"merchandise"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(18:11-12) of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"merchants of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(18:11), who</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"were made rich by</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Babylon the Great]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(18:15).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Satan is the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast that ascendeth out of the Bottomless Pit"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 11:7), who martyrs God's Two Witnesses (11:3)-- Moses and Elijah. In this instance, the Greek word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>therion</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>describes Satan like a wild beast.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the Bottomless Pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(9:11). However, the Saints are reminded that Satan is a present foe that resides in this world-- coming and going from the Pit--</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"whom resist stedfast in the faith"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Peter 5:9), knowing that if you</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"resist the devil... he will flee from you"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(James 4:7). Satan's empowering of the Antichrist is for the selfish end that he will thereby gain the worship that he so fervently desires.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And they worshipped the Dragon</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"the Great Dragon... that Old Serpent, called the Devil, and Satan"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 12:9)]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>which gave power unto the Beast</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">: and they worshipped the Beast, saying, Who is like unto the Beast? who is able to make war with him?"</font><font size="4">(Revelation 13:4).<br>
    <br>
    </font>(4)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">In the overwhelming majority of instances, the Antichrist is<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>the</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Beast of the Apocalypse (13:1-4, 12, 14-15, 17, 18; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2, 10, 13; 17:3, 7-8, 11-13, 16-17; 19:19-20; 20:4, 10).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"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 horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Revelation 13:1). When distinguishing the difference between the person of the Antichrist and the Antichrist system that produces him,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>the</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Antichrist will be a specific human at a future time; whereas, he will arise out of the religious, political, economic, and social power structure of the world, which is the Antichrist system.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the Beast<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[the Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the Dragon</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Satan, the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"prince of the power of the air"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Ephesians 2:2)]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 13:2). Keep in mind that whatsoever portion of this world, which is willfully kept in disobedience of King Jehovah, is the world or Antichrist system of Satan.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">15<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">16<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1John 2:15-16).<br>
    <br>
  </font>(5)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">The significant and twin beast of the Antichrist is the False Prophet.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I beheld another Beast coming up out of the Earth; and he had two horns like a Lamb, and he spake as a Dragon"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 13:11). The False Prophet embodies the desire for worship that Satan has always possessed since his fall.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 14:13). Satan's imitation of the Trinity is the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the Dragon, and out of the mouth of the Beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(16:13). The certain doom of the Antichrist and the False Prophet is that they will be</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(19:20) at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, while Satan's final judgment will be held in abeyance until his Post-Millennial Revolt is crushed by King Jesus.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the Lake of Fire and brimstone, where the Beast and the False Prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(20:10). Hallelujah!</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">8</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>The Beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the Bottomless Pit, and go into perdition: 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."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Unlike the Elect, those that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"dwell on the Earth shall wonder"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8) after the Beast. Their</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8). God gave them over that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"they should believe a lie"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Thessalonians 2:11)</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"because they received not the love of the Truth, that they might be saved"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2:10). The angel proceeds to describe to John the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast that was, and is not, and yet is"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8). What kind of Beast can be both</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"is not, and yet is"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8), as well as</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"was"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8)?<br>
      <br>
      The Beast That Was, and Is Not, and Yet Is</font></p>
<blockquote style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Satan is the Beast that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"was"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:8), and as Apollyon, he but again</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"shall ascend out of the Bottomless Pit"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:8). This Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25), the so-called Lord of the Flies--</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Hebrew, lord of the fly]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">the god of Ekron?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Kings 1:3)-- though he is as a</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"roaring lion,</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[that]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">walketh about, seeking whom he may devour"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Peter 5:8) and as a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"serpent"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 3:4) that did</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"bruise</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">heel"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(3:15) of the Son of Man on the Cross of Calvary, when Christ was</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"wounded for our transgressions</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[and]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">was bruised for our iniquities"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 53:5), at that time the LORD Our Substitute did mortally</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"bruise</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>head"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Genesis 3:15) of Satan, the creaturely Beast. This leaves the wild Beast in a wounded and raging condition, requiring the meek Saints to</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"submit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[themselves]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">to God</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[and to]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>resist the devil</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[knowing that only then]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>he will flee from you"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(James 4:7), until he shall finally<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"go into perdition"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:8). Perdition is the Greek word<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>apoleia</i>, meaning destruction and utter ruin, which is the exquisite destruction designed by the Almighty to divorce the Devil from interfering with the happiness of the Godly, while preventing Satan's eternal soul from experiencing anything but the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"blackness of darkness for ever"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Jude 13).<br>
        <br>
    </font>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">The Antichrist is the Beast that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"is not"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:8)-- at least, at the time of the writing of the Apocalypse. This second person in the Trinity of Evil is the Counterfeit Christ that triumphantly enters the Tribulation Week as a Messiah-like peacemaker, speaking</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"great swelling words"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jude 16), to</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"confirm the covenant with many</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[but not with all, i.e., the recently awakened Tribulation Saints]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">for one week"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 9:27). The character of the Antichrist can be seen in the first four Seal Judgments. He will imitate Christ the Conqueror-- Who</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ascended on high...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[and]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>led captivity captive...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[to give]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 68:18)-- when he, the arch Son of Satan, goes forth</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"conquering, and to conquer"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 6:2) in the First Seal Judgment, gaining for himself world domination through diplomacy. Antichrist the Little Horn (Daniel 7:8) will mimic Christ the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) in the Second Seal Judgment, when he takes True</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Peace from the Earth...</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[with]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">a great sword"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 6:4), no doubt to establish the peace of no further opposition to himself. Antichrist the Lawless One--<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"then shall that Wicked</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[literally, the Lawless One]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">be revealed"</font><font size="4">(2Thessalonians 2:8)-- will copy the Abundant Christ-- Whose rain falls</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"on the just and on the unjust"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 5:45)-- in the Third Seal Judgment, when his policies and leadership introduce the world to the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"black horse"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 6:5) of famine, sharing the abundance of his administration. In the Fourth Seal Judgment, the Man of Sin (2Thessalonians 2:3) will bless the world with</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Death, and Hell"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(6:8) in his abortive attempt to counterfeit for his people the life that comes only from Christ the Life (John 14:6).<br>
    <br>
  </font>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">The Antichrist system of the world, i.e., the religious, political, economic, and social power structure of the world, is the Beast that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"yet is"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:8). We are informed through the Apostles John's First Epistle that even in the First Century there were</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"many antichrists"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1John 2:18). This system of antichrists has spanned the ages of humankind, for the human antithesis of God has always been the Antichrist.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"The fool</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Hebrew, nabal-- signifying the Arch Fool, Antichrist]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>hath said in his heart, There is no God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 14:1). The world system that spawns the Antichrist has always been at enmity with the Saints-- only variously employing the crafty means of Vanity Fair Friendship to confuse and disarm unwary Pilgrims.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God"</font><font size="4">(James 4:4). Why does the Antichrist system of the world have such animosity to the Holy Jehovah?</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 8:7). Until the miracle of the New Birth begets a renewed heart and mind in the life of one of Satan's former serfs, the Royal Law of Love will be odious; and, the Antichrist world system will continue to persuade its benighted masses of the indispensability, and yea further, of the supreme good of self-love-- without the slightest hint of our overpowering necessity of seeking, trusting, loving, and obeying the Living God.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Thou art worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 4:11).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">9</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">In the day of the Apostle John, the city of Rome was famed for its situation of encompassing seven hills, i.e., Capitolinus, Palatinus, Aventinus, Esquilinus, Coelius, Viminalis, and Quirinalis, as noticed by Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Claudian, Starius, Martial, and others. But, though this may draw the reader to correctly identify the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"woman"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9) with Papal Rome, the identification of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seven heads"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9) is that they</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"are seven mountains"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9). Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"great image"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 2:31) makes reference to a<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"stone</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[that]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">was cut out without hands</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Jesus Christ, the KING of Kings, and LORD of Lords]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">, which smote the image</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[human government]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">... became a Great Mountain</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Christ's Millennial Kingdom]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">, and filled the whole Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2:34, 35). Using this understanding, the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven mountains"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9) are seven kingdoms or temporal dominions upon</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"which the woman sitteth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9). Seven, being the number of perfection or completeness, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Genesis 2:2), the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"seven mountains"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9) represent the totality of kingdoms and empires, which the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"woman"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:9)-- Babylon the Great-- seduces and manipulates.<br>
      <br>
      Scripture reminds us that if you will not</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"rejoice with the wife of thy youth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 5:18), then the resulting apostasy, i.e., Greek,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>apostasia</i>, falling away, as seen in the Professed Church's imitation of the world's pattern of marriage-then-divorce, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(5:20), will cause Professing Christians to commit adultery against God and their former spouse.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 5:32). The door will then be wide open to embrace the Great Harlot. Why? Because,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Luke 16:10). Infidelity to the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"wife of thy covenant"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Malachi 2:14) places you one step closer to committing spiritual adultery with Babylon the Great. The</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"MOTHER OF HARLOTS"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 17:5) is the Spiritual Harlot that has beguiled mankind since ancient Babylon, and she will continue her siren call and the spiritual ruination of Professing Christians until her soon judgment.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the Great Transgression"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 19:13).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">10</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seven kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:10) represent seven successive kingdoms or empires, i.e., Egypt (1600-1200 BC), Assyria (900-600 BC), Babylon (606-536 BC), Medo-Persia (536-330 BC), Greece (330-146 BC), Rome (200 BC-400 AD), and Revived Rome, which seems to be the European Union, that was formed from the older European Economic Community (1957-1958) through the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), which was enacted on November 1st 1993. Though the first six kingdoms fit the historical pattern, the lengthy gap between the Roman Empire and the Revived Roman Empire takes more effort on the part of the reader to interpret, but it was just such a stretch that the unbelieving Jews did not make to accept that the Messiah would make a first appearance-- to be rejected, abused, and killed, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 53:8).-- then, to return a second time after a significant space of time in triumph and judgment.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">34<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">The people answered Him, We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? who is this Son of Man?...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">37<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him:<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">38</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, LORD, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 12:34, 37-38). In fact, even the early Jewish Christians were not initially clear about the necessity of a Second Advent for Christ, when they asked the Risen Messiah,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"LORD, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 1:6).<br>
      <br>
</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Five are fallen"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:10) refers to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece having come and gone-- the zenith of their power already abated.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"For riches are not for ever: and doth the crown endure to every generation?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Proverbs 27:24). Since the Apostle John penned this Apocalypse around 95 AD, Rome was the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"one</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[that]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">is"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:10), while the Revived Roman Empire was the one that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"is not yet come"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:10). The longevity of the Revived Roman Empire will be short-lived, for</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"when he cometh, he must continue a short space"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:10). Even as the Devil knows that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"he hath but a short time"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(12:12), the seventh king must sense a need for haste to accomplish Satan's will.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 59:7). Again, it is certain that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"he must continue a short space"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:10), for it has been decreed by the Spirit of Christ through the Apostle John.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 4:17).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">11</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And the Beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">At this point in the Divine Narrative, our analysis of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Beast that was, and is not"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:11)-- see our comments on verse 8-- is focused upon the coming Antichrist, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"even he is the eighth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:11). The implication is that the Antichrist will come out of the seventh kingdom, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"is of the seven"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:11). Though the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seven kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:10) represent successive dominions, the Antichrist will uniquely be the consummation of the seventh kingdom. Antichrist's designation as the eighth identifies him as the epitome of defilement, for:</font></p>
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  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">on the eighth day, the male child was circumcised, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Leviticus 12:3), since the previous seven days his mother was in her separation and uncleanness, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(12:2),<br>
        <br>
    </font>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">the eighth day after his healing from leprosy, the healed leper was to offer sacrifice for his ceremonial cleansing, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the newly healed leper]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">shall bring</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the required sacrifice]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(14:23), and<br>
    <br>
  </font>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">a woman was not considered ceremonially clean of her menstrual discharge, until she had offered</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"two turtles, or two young pigeons"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(15:29). Even so, the Man of Sin</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"goeth into perdition"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:11)-- that place of Unending Defilement-- just as his</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"father the Devil"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(John 8:44), for</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"like people, like priest"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hosea 4:9).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">12</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the Beast."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">What are the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten horns"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12)? The Spirit of God has revealed that they</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"are ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12). The interpretation that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) represent the European Union is appended with the thought that the Antichrist's global kingdom will ultimately-- for in the Apostle John's time, they had</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"received no kingdom as yet"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12)-- metrically divide the world into ten parts.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">41<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>42</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Daniel 2:41-42). By comparison, the feet have ten toes, which act jointly for the benefit of their ruling body. This seems to have been the mind of the LORD, when He gave the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"great image"</font><font size="4">(2:31) to Daniel, to designate that the final form of human government would have the strength of the Ancient Roman Empire's</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"legs of iron"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2:33), but its power would be diluted to have the human weakness of feet of clay, in that the feet and toes are represented as</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"part of potters' clay, and part of iron"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2:41).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of Him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of Him that framed it, He had no understanding?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 29:16).<br>
      <br>
      The Ancient Roman Empire stretched from England through Spain to Northern Africa during its nearly six centuries (100 BC to 476 AD) of marching across the then known world of Western civilization. Most of Europe, Greece, and Asia Minor fell under the control of the iron of Roman peace<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>{Pax Romana).</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were added to the Empire, before it reached its greatest extent under the emperor Trajan (c. 117 AD). Roman law, coinage, civil engineering, roads, and communication welded together diverse peoples into the stability and security that the Living God providentially used to rapidly diffuse the message of Christianity throughout the world.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">10<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>11<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">12<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 25:10-12). By comparison, the European Union (EU) is presently (circa 2002) composed of fifteen nations, i.e., 1950: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; 1973: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom; 1981: Greece; 1986: Spain and Portugal; 1995: Austria, Finland and Sweden. There is preparation for the accession of thirteen eastern and southern European countries, i.e., Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Turkey. The EU projects to the world an image of</font><font size="4" color="#440000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"stability, peace, and economic prosperity."</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 24:44).<br>
      <br>
      What is the meaning that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten horns"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) shall</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"receive power as kings one hour with the Beast"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:12)? The</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten horns"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) point to a global expansion of the EU format with ten regional governors under the Antichrist. The final form of human government before the Return of the LORD Jesus Christ will be with the Antichrist, but only for</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"one hour"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12). What does</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"one hour"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) signify? Our comments on the Promise made to the Church of Philadelphia, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Because thou hast kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the Hour of Temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 3:10), are repeated:</font></p>
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  <p><font size="4" color="#440000">"The</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">'Hour of Temptation'</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(3:10)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#440000">is equivalent to 15 days, if Daniel's Seventieth Week (1 week) equals 2,520 days. One hour would be 1/168 of a week or .0059523 of a week, which is 15 days. This would be the time equivalent to Tishri 1 to Tishri 15. If the Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church occurs at perhaps the midnight hour on Tishri 1, then approximately 8 to 9 days (depending on how you count it) would be left in the Tribulation Week, which would then extend through Tishri 9. This would allow for the pouring out of about one Vial a day during the Seven Vial Judgments. Armageddon lasts 5 days from Tishri 10 (the Second Coming of the LORD Jesus Christ) to Tishri 14-- the day before Tishri 15 (the Inauguration of the Millennial Reign of the LORD Jesus Christ on Earth). 9 days (for the Vial Judgments) plus 5 days (for Armageddon) equals 14 days, which lacks only one day to complete the</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">'Hour of Temptation'</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#440000">(Revelation 3:10). That one day lacking is Tishri 15."</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">13</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">Each of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) will be prepared to administrate their respective domains in concert with the Son of Perdition.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the Beast"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:13). Satan hopes to promote the success of pan-European cooperation, i.e., the European Union, as a model for future global governance through the Antichrist-- capitalizing on the world's yearning for material well-being, as well as their fear of instability, conflict, and annihilation.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 52:7). Man is inexcusable in choosing the alternative of Antichrist, for the Almighty has given mankind the understanding that:</font></p>
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  <p>(1)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">God exists, ought to be trusted, and rewards those who do so confide in Him, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Hebrews 11:6),<br>
        <br>
    </font>(2)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">Man has sinned not only against God, but his neighbour, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">14<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">For when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves:</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>15<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">which shew the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 2:14-15), and<br>
    <br>
  </font>(3)<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><font size="4">He offers forgiveness to rebels who repent, for even an Angel will ultimately herald the Good News to<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>all</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>surviving rebels shortly<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>before</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>the KING of Kings returns, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the Everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 14:6); further, accomplishing the fact that</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[only]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>then shall the End come"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 24:14), and thus, authenticating that the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Titus 2:11).</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">14</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>These 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."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">What madness!</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"These shall make war with the Lamb"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14). How unthinkable that man should fight against God!</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Proverbs 21:30). It is infinitely easy for the High and Lofty One to terminate such ants as wicked men are.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Job 4:9). But, have the Professed Saints realized that all sin is warfare against God?</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Ye cannot serve God and mammon"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Matthew 6:24). And, have we learned that Jesus Christ was</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"manifested to take away our sins"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(1John 3:5), if we will actively trust Him to be, do, and accomplish in us all that He is and is able to do.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Whereby are given unto us Exceeding Great and Precious Promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the Divine Nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Peter 1:4).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4"><br>
      <br>
      How the best conceived weapons can prosper against God is preposterous, for the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Oracles of God"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 3:2) need only to briefly assert that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Lamb shall overcome them"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14). If</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"no weapon that is formed against</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the servants of the LORD]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">shall prosper"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Isaiah 54:17), how much more inconceivable that the pots should rise up to outwit and subdue the Potter!</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">2<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">3<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>4<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it...</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>6<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O house of Israel"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 18:2-4, 6).<br>
      <br>
      His Name is</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"LORD of Lords, and KING of Kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14); and, since this truly declares His position, He leaves to the human dramatist the need to paint pictures with words, canvas, celluloid, and computer generated graphics to persuade us that a Being with such a name will deftly conquer the mightiest human foe that can be conceived.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Who is like unto Thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Exodus 15:11). His very name of</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"LORD of Lords, and KING of Kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14) assures us that He must conquer the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12), because when He speaks, it must come to pass.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">6<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Forasmuch as there is none like unto Thee, O LORD; Thou art great, and Thy Name is great in might.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>7<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Who would not fear Thee, O King of Nations? for to Thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto Thee"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 10:6-7).<br>
      <br>
Notice that the King's attendants are so honored that they would appear with Him as His</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Called, and Chosen, and Faithful"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14). The Resurrected and Raptured Saints are His</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Called"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14), who have the honour of conquering with the Conqueror.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">5<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Let the Saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>6<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">7<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">8</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>9<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His Saints. Praise ye the LORD"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 149:5-9). To be elevated to this honour, is the predestiny of the<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Chosen"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:14), for the LORD Jesus said,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 15:16). Though we<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>must</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>aspire and exert our utmost to be His</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Faithful"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:14), it is He alone that makes us faithful, for<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Thessalonians 5:24).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
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  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">15</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The same angel that began this chapter's narrative describing the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"judgment of the Great whore"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:1), said to John, the son of Zebedee,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"The waters which thou sawest, where the Whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:15). Unless the context of Scripture demands a figurative interpretation, we are to receive It's Words as literally as we would talking to one another; but here, we are specifically told that the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"waters"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:15) are to be non-literally interpreted as</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:15). It is a fearful thing to be given over to a</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"reprobate mind"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 1:28) to be accounted as one of the many upon whom the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Whore sitteth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:15).</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">7<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And it was given unto</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[the Antichrist]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>8<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">And all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 13:7-8). May such reminders of the fearfulness of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"reprobate</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Greek,<i>adokimos]</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">mind"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Romans 1:28) should cause us to lean upon the LORD to keep us from the Great Falling Away.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Greek,<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>adokimos]</i></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><i>"</i></font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Corinthians 9:27).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">16</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the Beast, these shall hate the Whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) will turn against their paramour, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"these shall hate the Whore"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:16). The selfishness that Satan cultivates in his own to promote rebellion against Jehovah, causes the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12) to despise the Whore, for they can truly love only themselves. How unlike True Love, which</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"seeketh not her own"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Corinthians 13:5)! Once Babylon the Great has been targeted by the Beast's hatred, he-- in concert with the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"ten kings"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:12)-- will isolate, abuse, and spoil the Great Whore, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:16), in the tradition of a cruel, invading army, raping and pillaging what they have come to destroy.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Isaiah 13:16). When they have finished with her, they will</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"burn her with fire"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:16). However, neither they nor the Whore have anything left, but a future of Unending Destruction.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"For Tophet<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">[literally, a place of fire, where infants were sacrificed to Molech]<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; He hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(Isaiah 30:33). The destruction of the False Prophet, even at this point, will be to the Religious System of the Whore, and particularly to City of Rome-- see verse 18-- but, it is the LORD Jesus Christ that will have the ultimate honour of capturing alive both the Antichrist and the False Prophet to Eternally Destroy them in the Lake of Fire.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"And the Beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Revelation 19:20). And, that destruction will be<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"world without end"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Ephesians 3:21).<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Mark 9:44). If I AM made the burning bush<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><i>not</i><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>to be consumed before Moses, then He will yet again make the Whore's destruction unending.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"</font><font size="4">(Numbers 23:19).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">17</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the Beast, until the Words of God shall be fulfilled."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The Living God plays His creation like a symphony orchestra, and even His enemies</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"fulfill His will"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:17). Most memorable of misjudgments was the Satanic Conspiracy to crucify the LORD Jesus Christ, who had to die in the fashion He did, i.e.,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"that the Scripture might be fulfilled"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(John 19:24, 28); but,</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the LORD of Glory"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(1Corinthians 2:8). Luke further affirms the lunacy of the Most Wicked Action</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"against the LORD, and against His Anointed</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>[Hebrew, mashiyach-- Messiah]</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Psalm 2:2):</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">27<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">For of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, Whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>28<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy Counsel determined before to be done"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Acts 4:27-28). In the context of Revelation 17, these cohorts of the Antichrist destroy the Whore-- which is the Roman Harlot, the world religion of Satan, the global religion of the False Prophet.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Behold, the whirlwind of the LORD goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 30:23). In particular, their destruction is aimed against</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"that great city"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:18) of Rome. This collaborative effort will continue</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"until the Words of God shall be fulfilled"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:17).</font></p>
<p align="CENTER" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">----</p>
<ul style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
  <li><font size="4" color="#AA0000">"</font><font size="4" color="#000000">18</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth."</font></li>
</ul>
<p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="4">The greatest clue to the identity of the</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"woman which thou sawest"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:18), is that she is</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"that great city"<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">(17:18)-- of Rome. Religiously and historically, no other city has so reigned</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"over the Kings of the Earth"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(17:18). Present attempts to discount the role of the Papacy as part of the system of the Beast-- incorporating Ecumenical Christianity and probably the United Religions Initiative-- range from incredulity that any could think such a thought against the Vicar of Christ to certainty that some impostor will ultimately misrepresent Catholicism.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"</font><font size="4">9<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto Heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies...<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4">45<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></font><font size="4" color="#AA0000">My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(Jeremiah 51:9, 45). But, if the Spirit of God cannot awaken such understanding of the Babylonian character of Roman Catholicism, then it will be most certainly impossible to properly understand the events that must shortly come to pass.</font><font size="4" color="#AA0000"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>"Consider what I say; and the LORD give thee understanding in all things"</font><font size="4"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>(2Timothy 2:7).


[[Category:The Revelation]]