Bible Study: October 21, 2020

We'll finish the book of Revelation tonight. You know, we haven't looked at every single verse, but we've looked at most verses in the book here. You know, we have talked about Revelation 21 and 22, some, and but at the Feast of Daytona, I thought that the speakers on the last great day did a very good job in covering those chapters. So you might want to go to the Daytona Feast site and listen to Phil Ost and Andy Deamer, those sermons. I think they did a very good job with those chapters. We've covered most of the rest of it through the Bible studies, but there is one, one, a couple chapters that we haven't touched on that I wanted to touch on tonight, and then finish, finish the book. Of course, I'm open to any questions, any discussion. If there's anything else we need to go back and look at again, we can do that. All you have to do is send an email and we'll answer whatever questions anyone has or open up the discussion for another time. But in Revelation 17 and 18, God gives a pretty good detail description of the religious system and the civil system that's going to be extant on the earth before the return of Jesus Christ. And so we should look at, we should look at that because, especially with the world that we're living in today and when we see the various things that are happening in the world and the attitudes that are changing, the way that, the way that societal behavior is changing, the way that our news is even changing, we can see a change that's happening in the world around us. It's change in the spirit, a change in the way the public wants to go, a society wants to go, and it's, it's, it could be a disturbing, it could be a disturbing change that we see happening. But it does lead us and does make us look at the book of Revelation and what's prophesied in the Bible and we can see, we can see the events and we can see the attitudes at the end time beginning to show among us today. So it's good to be able to look at those those scriptures, hear about the religious system and the civil system and see where we're going, because this will be the world, you know, if God allows us to live through that time, to, that we'll be seeing. You know, it's interesting, a couple people mentioned that the, you know, this afternoon to me and in the afternoon Bible study about the Pope's announcements that I happened to be looking, watching the news at 6 30 and they had a feature on that where the Pope, of all things today, came out and endorsed same-sex unions, which is kind of surprising, a total departure for the Catholic Church of everything that they've always stood for. But I think that also signals a change in the direction of the Church is going and as we move into the end times, the Church that's going to dominate the earth is going to be, is going to be a Church that's different in some aspects than what we have today, but it's going to be a Church that requires obedience to it and requires the world to submit to it. So let's get into the book of Revelation, unless there's something that someone wants to talk about before we, you know, before we get into it, if there's any questions or anything from prior times, you know, I'd be happy to discuss those.

Okay, if not, then let's go ahead and look at chapter 17, chapter 17 and verse 1. You know, in chapter 16 we have most of the the six trumpets, the or the seventh trumpet, and the vials that are poured out onto earth. And then we have chapter 17 and 18 that gives us a picture of the world here, the world at that time, before it is finally destroyed by, before it's finally overcome by God.

Chapter 17 verse 1. Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked to me, of course, this is John saying to me, come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters. And so in the very, in the very, you know, beginning of this description of the vision John has, we see a little bit of what God thinks about this power that he's about to discuss.

He doesn't even give it the title of a woman. He calls it a harlot. And whenever we see harlots in the Bible, you know, certainly the great border indicates that it's a person of ill repute, a person who would sell themselves for gain of something else to do whatever. They will prostitute themselves for whatever it is that they want. They're willing to trade that off for what it is. So we have this, this vision that John is coming into, and God calls this system he's about to reveal to John a harlot.

It gives us a good indication of God's, God's perception of what we're about to see here. And he says of this great harlot, it's not just a regional event, it's not just a little, not just a little church, we'll say, because this harlot is a woman we're going to see down here in verses two and three. But it's a harlot that sits on many waters. And, and, you know, we can look at many waters and say, you know, we know that the end time prophecies center around the Mediterranean Sea and the north of the, in Europe.

You know, Daniel talks about the great sea, and we read about the beast arising out of the sea. So we have many waters that are physical waters that are around that time. But when God gives this, this statement in verse one, he interprets it later on in the chapter so that we're clear. Yes, indeed, there are waters around the area that this, this great, this great church is going to surround itself. But in chapter, same chapter in verse 15, he interprets what these waters are for us. In verse 15 says, He said to me, The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. And so there are physical waters there, but what God is showing is that, you know, this church spans the earth at that time.

It's over many nations. It's a, it's a worldwide event. It's something to take note of. It's not just a one nation or a one little church. It is a big church that has influence worldwide. So we're getting introduced to something that is going to be extant on the earth at that time. And before, before Christ returns to earth and that final seventh vial is poured out, God introduces us to and through vision, you know, shows us what the world will be like at that time.

I should point out in 17 and 18, we have the religious system in chapter 17 that we'll talk about. And then in chapter 18, we have the, the civil, the societal portion of it, the civil, the civil government, the commerce, the merchandise, the physical aspect of this kingdom.

They are one and distinct. They do have two leaders, if you will. There is a separation of church and state. Because if you remember back in Revelation 13, you know, we have the beast that the whole world marvels over as he arises out of the sea and he wants to set himself as God.

And the little beast then at the end of chapter 13, who causes everyone to take the mark of the beast if they won't bow down, if they won't bow down and worship the big beast. So we have, we have these two leaders that are extant on earth at that time. But here in chapter 17, we're going to talk about the church. And when we get to chapter 18, we're going to see what the world is like, the commercial world that is in is, is extant at that time as well. So in verse one, you know, we learned something about what we're about to see.

And in verse two, God can, goes right into what, you know, what this harlot is. He doesn't leave it to mind who, who is this harlot that, that is sitting on many waters? Well, she's a harlot with whom? Verse two, the kings of the earth committed fornication. So we have these powerful people, people who rule nations, people who rule territories, people who rule kingdoms. And they, for some reason, ally themselves or, as God puts it, commits fornication with, with this beast, with this harlot that sits on many waters.

So when they do this, they're getting something out, they're getting something for themselves, the harlot is getting something for herself, but it's an unholy union. It's an unnatural union. It's not a godly union at all. And God is pretty, pretty colorful when he says the kings of the earth commit fornication with her. You know, fornication, when we look at, when we look at the Bible, and we look at the things that God says about it, we, you know, we will, we will think about, you know, the physical sexual act, we will think about, you know, sex outside of marriage and, and fornication, we'll think about adultery, which is sex outside of a marital relation when someone is married. But there is a spiritual element as well. And here what God is showing is this, that the kings of the earth and this great harlot, they're, they're, they're committing spiritual fornication. They're, they're looking to each other and they're sacrificing something or looking to each other to get what they need to get. You know, we could go back and, in fact, let's do it. Let's go back and look at 1 Corinthians 6 and, and see where God talks even, you know, to, to us as people. He talks about us in terms, in verse 6, of how we will be or how we, what we need to watch out for, to be sure that we aren't left out of the kingdom before, because of these, these issues that might arise before us. In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 9 says, don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. And then it's notable how God lists, you know, in various places where he lists the things that will keep people out of the kingdom, sins that we should avoid, how he orders them. And here, the very first thing in 1 Corinthians 6, he says, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And then Paul says to the Corinthians, and such were some of you.

Well, in that society, we know that sex was, was, was, was perverted in so many ways, and the foreign, the, the, the, uh, Gentile gods would allow them to do anything as long as they paid tribute to the temple gods. But it's interesting that God lists fornication first. You know, it's a warning to us and to our young people that when God created sex, and when he created male and female, he really intended that to be a sacred union, something between man and wife, something he commanded them to be together as one flesh. There's something about it that binds man and woman together as one flesh, and he says, absolutely, don't, don't use it outside of marriage.

And it's, it's something that he holds very high on his list here. If you're one of, if you're doing that, you won't be in the kingdom. Now that's the physical act, but we can, we can spiritually fornicate as well, like the kings of the earth do, and like people do today. You know, we, we, when we're called of God, when we repent, when we are baptized, you know, God sees us as his children. We know we're in preparation to be kings and priests in his kingdom.

We know that we are being prepared, and we have to do our part in preparing ourselves to be the bride of Christ, and to prepare for that time that we would be there. That means we wouldn't, we wouldn't be guilty, and we would never, or we should never succumb to fornication. We have one God, that's who we worship, that's who we yield ourselves to, that's who we submit to. So God would look at it, that, you know, if we fornicate with the world spiritually, what are we doing? Well, if we're engaged to someone, and we go out looking at another woman, and what can we get from her, you know, that's, that's, that's something that God said to say, take note of, you know.

Husband and wife are to be there for each other and provide what each other need. If we look to the world and say, you know what? Yeah, God is good. I believe him, but you know, I'll go and look at the world, and I'll put my trust in this element of the world, because that's where I need to be. Well, God would look at that as, well, you're not putting your trust in me, you're fornicating with the world, you know, whatever it might be that we put. You know, as you look at the Greek word that's translated fornication there, it's, it's interesting, some of the twists that it has in it, it's, it's, it's pretty specific, but at the bottom of the list, it talks about Babylon being in a idolatrous, an idolatrous society, and it equates fornication with idolatry.

What will we do, and what will we put in place of God? And so when God listed here in 1 Corinthians 6, he's got fornicators first, but then right next to it, he's got idolaters. You know, what do we take from God when we yield ourselves and are to give ourselves totally and wholly to Him?

Submit to Him. Follow Him. Are we taking anything from the world, and do we have these other little alliances in the world that we don't want to get rid of, you know, that we should be getting rid of because we are to keep ourselves only to Him? You know, he says that in the Bible and even Revelation 18. After he gets done talking about this religious power, and we begin talking about the society, the commercial society at that time, God says, come out of her, my people.

Come out of her, my people. Don't partake of her ways. So there's a lesson in that, and as God talks about how He sees what the kings of the earth do in this end time, as they ally with this harlot that we'll see is a great church that's extant on the earth at that time. The view that He has in it. Now we should learn something about how God looks at our, you know, our behavior in the world too, and when, you know, what we do.

So, you know, again, feel free to, if there's anything that anyone wants to add, clarify, whatever our question, that's okay. You can speak up at any time. But if I don't hear anything, I'm just going to keep going. So, okay, so we have this picture, this developing of this church.

It's a harlot. It covers a large part of the earth. It's God's eyes, a fornicator, the kings of the earth, the leaders of the earth are coming to it. They kind of need each other for this unholy purpose that they're part of, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So the people, the people of the earth are made drunk with it. I mean, they're participating in this system as well. We've got kings, and we've got the church, you know, forming a society, kind of combining together, working together, having one mind for a while, it says later on in chapter 17.

But then we have the whole world participating in this, and it says the whole world is getting drunk with the wine of her fornication. You know, again, God uses some colorful language here, you know, they're drunk, you know, we're drunk, we're not thinking clearly, we're, we're, we're, you know, we can be at a stupor, we're not analyzing things clearly. He warns us, you know, not to be drunkards, not to be having those things cloud our senses and whatever. And even, you know, for the ministry, he says, even when you're preaching and when you're studying, don't even take any wine before you do that. Keep your head clear. Nothing wrong with drinking wine, nothing wrong with having a glass of wine now and then, but indulging in it does have not, not good effects, right? Well, again, we can look at and say, well, what does God is talking about there? It made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Well, how were they made drunk? Again, we can look in the same chapter and see what God defines that as. In verse six, just a few verses down, when he's talking about this woman, this harlot that he calls it, it says, I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. Do you see what they're drinking? Do you see what they're getting themselves in? What they're participating in? You know, this is a religious system that's going to be preaching that, you know, they're tolerant and there's freedom for everyone and God is good and everything goes and whatever it is that they're going to preach, everything goes, except if you believe the Bible, if you stand on the Word of God, they're not going to tolerate that. That's the goal you will be put to death. And they make themselves drunk on the wine of the blood or with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. You know, it's kind of a, it's a pretty dramatic picture that we see here when we see what they're made drunk with.

Now, remember during this time, you know, there are two witnesses that are going to be preaching, well, wait, not during the seventh trumpet. No, not during the seventh trumpet. They won't be. They end their witness at the end of the sixth. So, so we have this this world here at the end that is the best of this, the best, the best of any of the preaching of God.

And we see them, you know, martyring, martyring Christians. Of course, that goes on during the entire time, not just the last, the last, the last, the last seventh trumpet or anything. You know, again, when we look, when we look at the words that are, are written there, now we, you know, here in the 21st century, we had the benefit of a lot of history. You know, we, we can go back to the New Testament times and see what happened to Christians from the time that Jesus Christ, you know, was resurrected and taken up to heaven.

And we looked at some of that history, and as we bond through the various, you know, I guess we could call them the eras of the church, we see that there was one church during at least 1260 years of that time that was quite dominant. And what they did was suppress the Bible, suppress the Word of God, kill the people that would preach the Word of God. And there were many, many martyrs during that time. So we have a clue as to who and what religious system this is, is going to be extant on the earth again, because we're going to read that the people marvel.

The people marvel when they see how powerful this church has become. But it goes back to its roots, and it becomes again what it had been in the beginning, until God changed the times and allowed His Word to come upon the earth so that we have the opportunities that we have today. But here we have a church that's dominant and is going to do what it can, including kill anyone, anyone who supports the Word of God in the Bible.

It'll take a lot of courage, and it'll take a lot of courage and a lot of faith in God to be alive at that time if we find ourselves in that situation. But we know there will be no choice if we do. To be in God's kingdom, we cannot choose the beast. We cannot choose to bow down to Him. So we see this society, this society, this religious system that's evil. Evil. You know, today we live in an era where churches are, you know, the churches of the world are kind of kind and whatever, but we've seen them evolving. We've seen them departing from the Bible. It's notable that the Catholic Church even departs from, you know, their all-time position on homosexuality even today as they cave into the world and they depart more and more from the Word of God.

You know, we'll see a progress and a progression of churches that go toward one group and one, you know, one church that's going to dictate everyone's belief. So in chapter verses 1 and 2, we have this thing that is that lies ahead of us. In verse 3, you know, God introduces it and then John says, so He, this angel, carried me away into spirit into the wilderness. And so John is going into visions and just kind of seeing what this religious system is like.

And, you know, he calls it that he's carried away into the wilderness. And, you know, there's many times in the Bible that the wilderness is talked about. We know that Israel wandered in the wilderness or, you know, those 40 years. And that was a literal wilderness. It was a desert. It was an uninhabited place. They relied totally on God. There was no physical blessings in that place they were except that what God provided them.

In other places we read of wildernesses. Here we read in a wilderness, but this isn't going to be a wilderness that he looks like that's going to be a desert physically. Because when we get into chapter 18, we're going to see this is a very bustling society, bustling economy. It's a very commercial area. And this church is right there in the midst of it.

But it is desolate spiritually. It is a desert spiritually. There is no, there is no spiritual food in this wilderness that John is going to see. What he is going to see is a church that is totally opposed to God, that is the opposite of everything God stands for, and a church that is going to actually fight against the return of Jesus Christ. So he says, you know, he carried me away into the wilderness. And I saw a woman, and again I pause, remember when we see the word woman, we do see, you know, that is a church that is being talked about. Can't be a nation sometimes. Back in Revelation 12 when we were talking about, you know, the end time woman and everything, we saw that at that time, that this is a woman, this is the church there, and this church, that was carrying me away in the spirit of the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. You know, sometimes when we see the word sitting, you know, it doesn't mean that they just sat down, right, because when we sit, it is a seat of authority. And so when the word sitting is used here, it's showing this church has authority over the earth. This church has a lot of power. You know, we can harken back to Proverbs 31 when it talks about the Proverbs 31 husband, you know, sits in the gates of the city with the elders of the land. He's got a position. He's notable, you know, he's earned that. This church sits, she sits on a scarlet beast.

She's got a position of authority, and she can wield power, and she's got the power of physical life and death in her hand. I saw the woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

So God says, you know, what this church is teaching is blasphemy against God. You know, there's no way that a true Christian would believe anything that this church would say. They would see it and be able to discern the spirit and say, this is false. This is false.

But the world is going to be enamored by this, and the whole world is going to follow this religion. You know, if we skip down to verse 8 here in chapter 17, you know, we see some of the reasons that the world will marvel after this beast. It says, the beast that you saw was and is not. It's got this mystery about it, you know, that we see in verse 5. It's got this mystery about it. Man, it was always there. Kind of went under, you know, under the radar a little bit for some years, but here it is back in full color and full power again, and the world will champion it. You know, the beast that you saw, it was, is not, and it will ascend out of the bottomless pit.

Now, nothing but demons and bad things come out of the bottomless pit. That's where, that's where demons are bound. And back in Revelation, what was it? Revelation 13, 14, 15, and there when we saw, the trumpets begin to sound, we saw the beast arise, or yeah, arise out of the bottomless pit.

This beast you saw, it will ascend out of the bottomless pit. It's not of God at all. It's of Satan, and it will go to perdition. Now, perdition literally means eternal judgment or eternal damnation, eternal death, right? When we read the end of chapter 19 in Revelation, we see that this false prophet, this head of the church that wields such power at the end time, when he's conquered, Christ simply throws him into the lake of fire. His judgment is set. His judgment is set.

So this is the beast that was, is not, will arise out of the bottomless pit and will go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel. Although marvel, they'll be fascinated, they'll follow it. They will marvel whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. God's people should not, would not, that if they're led by the Holy Spirit, will not be enamored by this beast, by this, this woman, by no matter what power, no matter what miracles, no matter what cunning and deceptive and clever words come out of his mouth or her mouth, or whoever it is that's speaking, no one from the church this close to God should ever fall prey to it. But it is going to be very persuasive. It's going to be very powerful. It's going to be very alluring. The whole world will marvel. Don't take that word lightly. And Christ even says, as a warning to us, if it wasn't, even the elect could be deceived. So it behooves us, it behooves us to get closer to God, study the word of God more, engage him in our lives more, and let his spirit leave us more or lead us more. So they will all marvel as these things are happening. But this beast, his name's full of blasphemy. You and I, when we hear what it's saying, you know, our hair, our hair will stand on end, that anyone would even have the audacity to say those things against God. And the total falsity and the total, you know, untruths, mistruths that come out of this beast. And it says there that it has seven heads and ten horns.

You know, I don't want to spend a lot of time on seven heads and ten horns. We did discuss that a little bit back in chapter 13. And if you remember, back at that time, I did give you a chart of Gentile kingdoms. I think I sent that around to everyone to kind of list everything out and what where these these the seven heads and ten horns would be represented. Let me throw that up on the screen here, just as a reminder, a reminder of you, but for you. If you don't have this, you can let me know and I can send it to you again. But if you look down at this chart, you know, we have Revelation 17 in the third column over. It says the Babylon and the Beast. And if we go down that chart, we see the Scarlet Woman and the Beast in verses one and two. We just talked about that right there. And then it will lead you right through what are those revivals or resurrections of the Roman Empire that are implicit in these seven heads and the ten horns. Now, we don't know who the ten kings are. The Bible is going to tell us that the ten horns are ten kings. We don't know exactly who those are yet, but they will be ten kings who yield their power to them. They'll commit fornication and wed themselves to the Beast for their own purposes to get what they want to get what they want out of this union. So we have the seven horns, and if you want, you know, you can look through that, and you can kind of go back in history and see where these, the Roman Empire has been resurrected and revived, you know, six times in the past, and we have the seventh one ahead of us. But unless someone wants to talk about it a little bit, I'm not going to take any more time on that right now. We can talk about it another time if you want to, but I will leave that open if anyone has any questions on it or anything.

I will take that as a no. Okay, again, feel free to interrupt me anytime. Okay, let's go on with verse four then. Okay, verse four, the woman, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet.

And now here's the colors of royalty, you know, you look at scarlet, you look at purple, you look at the world around us, or look at royal colors. You know, someone on the afternoon Bible study mentioned that they were an altar boy or an assistant to a priest or something as they were growing up Catholic, and that it was interesting that what they saw in the Catholic Church was a lot of scarlet and as purple. Those are our colors that are out there. So God, again, you know, He gives us some very detailed descriptions of what is going on. Here's this woman, she's arrayed in purple and scarlet, and as we see a church come to four that begins to dominate the world that other churches commit fornication with to ally with her to become one religious system that is going to dominate the earth, you know, likely we're going to see these purple and scarlet colors very, very evident. They're very evident in her attire. And she's adorned with all this luxury and all these alluring things, you know. She's arrayed in purple and scarlet. She's adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. I mean, she's got all this wealth about her. So the world looks at her and marvels and it's like, oh, look, look at everything this church can give us. They must be of God. And of course, they're saying all these false things and leading people astray. So the world flocks, you know, flocks to this church and listens to what she says, even when she commands the death of other people that just simply don't agree with her. She has all this wealth and she has in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. Now, that's take the visual for a moment of a golden cup, right? As God describes in his words what this what this power is like. A golden cup, not any cheap cup, right? Made of gold. But what God says is in that cup, it's full of abominations and it's full of the filthiness of her fornication.

You know, when someone has a cup, when someone has a cup, you know, oftentimes we may take of that cup. And that church, that church will invite people to participate and take of the cup of her wine. You know, we saw that in verse 6. They will drink of that cup.

We have to be sure we never drink of that cup of false religion, that we do not, we do not harbor any of the false religious views that we might have had from before, that we are judicious in looking at the Bible, looking at the words that are sent, asking God to show us where we may have some other beliefs that have come in with us that we just don't want to let go of, that we get rid of those things because we don't ever want to drink of that cup. Because if we drink of that cup, what happens to that church will be part of the punishment for anyone who drinks of it. We'll see that later in chapter 18. But I do want to pause a little bit because it's interesting that God says this is a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of a fornication.

You know, abomination, when we think of the word abomination, often we think of the abomination of desolation, right? We think back to Antiochus, Epiphanes, and we think of the abomination of desolation where he came in, he desecrated and perverted everything in God's temple, even had the audacity to go in there and offer unclean meats on the temple. But he also, you know, told the Jews and forbade them to do anything that they anything that had to do with their religious beliefs. He totally outlawed it. And Christ talks about a time, he says, when you see the abomination of desolation flee or know that the time is close. And so we know there's a kind of time coming when, again, there will be the perversity of God's word and we see the abomination of desolation occur when everything about God is going to be trashed and perverted and made fun of and mocked and an entirely different system come to point. And when God says you see that, when you see what is happening to me, understand that's an abomination of desolation. It's a desolate situation we're in here, you know, when God is thrown out of society.

But I want to go back and I want to look at this word abominations because, again, God uses that word abomination when he is talking about the sins that can keep us out of the kingdom if we're not aware of them. Let's go over to Revelation 21 and verse 8. And again, let's note when God is talking about, you know, those who will be in his kingdom, verse 7, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. And then he lists in the order that he listed it, the people who won't be part of that. And it's very interesting, you know, we already looked at 1 Corinthians 6 and how it was listed there, but here in verse 8, speaking of the end time, he says, but the cowardly, the very first thing that he lists in, you know, is cowardly. Those who are timid, those who are afraid to follow him, those who may be ashamed of Christ, those who don't have the fear of God necessarily leading and guiding them, but the fear of something else leading and guiding them that prevents them from following God wholeheartedly. But the cowardly is the first thing he lists. But the unbelieving, those who don't have faith, you know, Jesus Christ said when the Son of Man returns to earth, will he find faith? But the cowardly, those who don't have faith, the unbelieving. And the third thing he lists there is the abominable, the abominable. And of course, this religious beast, it's got a cup full of abominations, and the world will be taking of those abominations that are detestable in God's sight. You know, then he goes through the rest. Then he goes into murderers and sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. So I want to spend just a little bit of time looking at what God calls abominations, because when we look at what abominations are in the Bible, it gives us a good clue as to what when we see that word, what is he thinking of? What might we be doing? And what might we want to be on guard in our lives that God doesn't look at and say, they still have this abomination, this abominable thing that they do, that they're not addressing or anything. So let's go back to the book of Proverbs. You know, Proverbs is a book of wisdom, and in it we learn an awfully lot about an awfully lot of various of our lives. We learn wisdom, and in the book of Proverbs we get a pretty good view of what God considers to be abominations.

So let me find where I am in my notes here. So I have these verses.

Yeah, let's begin in Proverbs 6. Proverbs 6. A familiar set of verses here. In verse 16 of Proverbs 6 says, These six things the Lord hates. A very strong word, these six things the Lord hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him. A proud look, verse 17. When we look at this religious power, it's got a proud look. When we look at the beast power, it's got a proud look.

God says a proud look is an abomination to him. He works, and he hears and responds to the humble. So a proud look is an abomination to him. A lying tongue is an abomination to him. Of course, we know Satan is the father of lies, the father of murder, murders, but we have a church that's extant on the church that is simply lying to the people at that time. Just as Satan lied to Adam and Eve, and she believed the lie, a lying tongue is an abomination to God. Hands that shed innocent blood. We already read that this religious power will be drunk with the blood of the saints.

Hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked plans. Do we lay awake at night seeing how we can set someone up if we could do something to upend their path or whatever? Or, you know, where is our hearts? Is it for good? Or what is going on in our minds? A heart that devises wicked plans. Feet that are swift and running to evil. You know, we just can't wait to be part of that process or hear all about it. You know, feet that are swift and running to be able might just be able to can't wait to get to the internet and do whatever evil things that we can do on the internet. You know, wherever it is evil is, how, you know, are we running the other direction? Are we shying away? Or do we run to it? A false witness, verse 19, who speaks lies and one who sows discord among brethren. So there we have, you know, seven things that God says are an abomination to him. And when he looks at when with the false, this false church has a cup full of abominations. Those might be some of the things that are in there. We go back to chapter 3 and verse 32. Chapter 3 and verse 32. For the first, for the perverse person, excuse me, for the perverse person is an abomination to the eternal.

You know, someone, someone sent me, you know, they don't regularly attend their church. They don't have to wonder, wonder who. Someone sent me something that had, that was sent out in a Baptist minister. They don't go to the Baptist church, but a friend sent it to them, and they didn't know how to respond to it necessarily. And then this Baptist church article, it talked about homosexuality, and the person writing the article was gay, and he was trying to justify his, his lifestyle with the church. And he made the comments that he always felt at odds with it. How could he be, or how could God let him be this, you know, when, when the Bible shows that it's not the right thing to do. And he talked about all the therapy that he had gone through, none of it worked, and whatever. But then he went back, and he was led to look at the Greek words that are translated homosexual, you know, like back in 1 Corinthians 6, when it says neither fornicators, idolaters, homosexuals are in there. And when he looked at the Greek word, he found, he said that it didn't say homosexuals. For some reason, he said the 15th century people translated homosexuals. What it really means, what it really is, it means perverse people, perverse people. So he was making the statement and the justification that God was talking about all these other things, but he didn't see homosexuals as any kind of sexual perversity. And so therefore, he was now right before God, he was free to live his lifestyle, etc. Now, when you look at what perversity is, and the way God defines it, it's anything that's abnormal, a perversity of the true function for which it's been created. We all know that sex was created for man and woman in marriage. Any outside or different use of that is a perversity of what God intended. Clearly, you know, my response to him was clearly homosexuality, up until recent times, has always been characterized as a mental issue, as a societal issue, as a perversity. It's only been in recent years that it hasn't been claimed as that. The author, I pointed out, also did not reference Romans 1 at all, where God is specific in his instructions on, you know, men with men and women with women, that it is wrong. He didn't reference anything in the Old Testament that decries those situations at all. But when we look at this word perverse person, you know, God is talking about more than just homosexuals. We have an entire nation that has gone overboard in perversity in the last few years. We not only have gay marriage and a Supreme Court that's authorized it and now a pope that is saying it's okay, but we also have transvestites, we have transgenderism, we have, you know, you name it, cross-dressers. Any sexual perversity on earth anymore is okay and is captured under this cloud of civil rights. You know, these people have been oppressed. They need to be free for what they do. It's their right to do whatever they want. When God looks at perversity and he says, the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, all those things are perverse to him. Any use of sex outside of marriage is a perversity to him. It's not what he intended. So all that, when we look at this abomination that he says is in this cup of the harlot that fornicates with the kings of the earth, all those things are in that cup. And you know, I think our young people especially, as they go to school and as they go to college and as they're in the workforce, I know in just talking to people and even hearing people at the feast talk about what their companies do, how they try to force this down people's throats and that everything, you have to accept everything and there's classes on it and everything. And that's a very dangerous thing that society is doing.

You know, we don't have to be the ones pounding our fists and up in people's faces about it, but we do need to work with our young people and our children to make sure that they don't fall prey to this reasoning and this justification that's out there. That's a job of a parent, it's a job that we have for each other to help each other look at things clearly and the way God looks at it and not fall prey to some of the clever reasoning and the emotions that can be cast around it. You know, the church, you know, we don't hate any of these sinners. We mourn for them. We look forward to the day when they're released from the bondage and the oppression they're under when they're free to enjoy life, you know, the way God intended it to do. But I've gone on too long on that, but I just wanted to point that out. What perversity is and what we, you know, what we need to do. We're going to see here in a minute a verse that talks about justification and justifying sins that that also is per as an abomination to God. So let's, we were in Proverbs 3, let's move forward to Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11 and verse 20. Those who are of a perverse heart, okay, God looks on our heart in the last chapter or last verse, we, you know, saw the action is now he's looking at our heart. Those who are of a perverse heart, God will purify our hearts if we let him, if we let the Holy Spirit come in and cleanse us. Isn't always easy. Well, you know, takes a lot of determination and commitment on our part and seeking God to do that. Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the eternal. Proverbs 16.

Proverbs 16, verse 5. Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.

Though they join forces, even though they ally each other like the like the church and the state and the end time there, even though they join forces, none will go unpunished. Chapter 17, and verse 15. He who justifies the wicked. Now, this is getting to what I talked about. Justifying, you know, what we do. Making excuses for what we do. Kind of using human reasoning to excuse ourselves from being who God wants us to be and just saying, oh, I'm okay. He who justifies the wicked. You know, we see a lot of that going on. This man with his Baptist article, he was trying to justify his action, and he was successful in doing it. If we're misled, if we look hard enough, we can justify anything we do. Doesn't make it right. God says, when we do that, it's an abomination to him. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. Chapter 20. Chapter 20 and verse 10.

Now, this speaks to our business dealings, right, in chapter 20. God has a lot to say about how we conduct our business and our commercial affairs in our lives. Verse 10, diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike an abomination to the Lord. God expects us to be honest in our dealings. He expects us to be forthright. He doesn't expect us to play the games the world does. He expects our yes to be yes, our no to be no, and when we're engaging ourselves in commerce, to not to be, you know, not to be deceptive, not to hide things, not to, you know, not to even do the things that may be commonplace in the world, but to be above that and do the things that he would do.

And let's go to Isaiah 66. There's other places in Proverbs you can look at as well, and really, and through Isaiah and the Psalms, another place you see abominable abomination. You know, it's interesting to look at those things and get a picture of what God calls abominations to him. But in Isaiah 66 and verse 7, 17, you know, these last chapters of Isaiah are looking toward the future, but in verse 17 of 66, he makes a statement about an abomination that's there that hits home today as well. Chapter 66 verse 17, he says, those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, that is, they get ready to go visit, you know, their gardens and go they go to the gardens to look at an idol in their midst. So they prepare themselves. They go out. They are doing everything, but they're really worshiping an idol, you know. All the while, he says, eating swine flesh and the abomination and the mouse shall be consumed together. So even the food that we eat, you know, if you go back and look at the clean and unclean food chapters in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 11 and Leviticus 14, you know, you see that God calls these things an abomination to him.

So he expects us in everything we do physically and spiritually to get rid of these abominations. Everything that God calls an abomination is in that cup, is in that cup, that false religion, that beast at the end time, that religious beast is telling the world it's okay, it's okay.

The same thing that they're now telling the world today on many of these things, including the latest thing from the Pope, it's okay. You don't have to pay attention to the words of the Bible. Just follow what I say and everything will be okay. Mr. Shaby, I just, I was going to say that reading what we were just talking about in reading the beginning of Isaiah 66 or 17, where it says, those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, it really brings to my mind about the two great sins of Israel, Sabbath breaking and idolatry. And you know, and it's, you're absolutely right. I mean, we reject God people, you know, today, and then we set up ourselves as idols and make ourselves gods. And if we make ourselves gods, then we can give ourselves license to do anything we want. And it goes hand in hand, you know, they sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go do all these things, you know, and that's where the world we're in today, where we reject God, reject God's laws and commandments, and we set ourselves up as gods. And so we can just give ourselves permission to do whatever we want. Yeah, yeah. That's pretty interesting. No, that's good. Reminds me when you were talking about what Israel did in the days of the judges, right? Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And that's kind of what the world we live in today. And there could be a danger among some in the church. You might think, Oh, I can justify and do whatever I want, regardless of what the Bible says. So no good, good, good, good observation, Dave. Okay, let's, let's go back. Let's go back to chapter 17. Okay, so in verse five, then, you know, we see the name of this, this, this beast, okay, this, this, this whore, this harlot, this woman, you know, on her forehead, her name is written, you know, God says He'll write His name on our foreheads, but on her forehead, her name was written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth. So God says it's this church, it's this, this church has been the mother of all these false ideas. This church has promulgated them. This church, this false church has taught people to do that. They're the mother of harlots. They have taught people, and they have fostered this fornication, this spiritual fornication.

They've fostered, you know, they've fostered the abominations of the teaching of those things. And God says that clearly. You know, it's in direct contrast to the Church of God that teaches its children the truth of God, the specifics of God, and in that church that God nurtures and grows and develops us so that we may be born as spirit beings when Jesus Christ returns to earth.

I'm not going to take the time looking at the time, but you, you can go back to 2 Kings 17. We've referenced it a number of times in sermons over the years. But in 2 Kings 17, it talks about the time when Israel's been taken captive, and you have a situation when Syria takes over the land, and lions, literally lions, are coming out and killing people. And the people go to the king and say, we can't tame the land. We don't know how to please the God of the land. And so the king of Syria, and it specifically mentions Babylon, is one of the settling cities in Israel's land when they're taken out of that land. And in that chapter, it talks about how, okay, they send the priest from Israel back. He teaches them the fear of the Lord. Never forget the fear of the Lord. It has to be at the basis of who we are. We can never, we can never not fear God. Once we lose the fear of God, we wander, and we stray, and we sin, and we do everything that we absolutely don't want to do. But he brings them in, and the people of the land, they listen to what that priest has to say.

They listen to the key things, but down as you read through chapter 17, you see they never let go of their gods. They never let go of their gods. So what we have is a mixture. You know, they learn to do what God wants. They take that truth, but they never let go of their gods. And so you have this false religion that emanates from that. That harkens us right back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil back in the Garden of Eden. It's a mixture of good. It's a mixture of truth. It's a mixture of truth and error and good and evil. And so this mystery, Babylon the Great, it looks great. It uses the word of God. It has a little bit of truth into it, but it uses that truth to teach lies, and God calls it what it is. The mother of Harless and of the abominations of the earth, and her judgment is going to come. You know, we've read through verse 6 of what the results of this church is. It kills the true people, the true Christians of God. The world marvels at it, because all they look at is a physical thing that has become and grown out of the earth. We see that, you know, thing they don't have what God has given us, that we can say, no, that isn't what we would bow down to. That isn't what we would worship. Down in verse 9, you know, we read in verse 8 about the book of life, those who are written in the book of life, that is the ones who stay close to Jesus Christ, who become blameless during the course of their lives.

Here is the wisdom, or I'm sorry, here's the mind which has wisdom.

The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Now, God does give some identifying characteristics. So here, those of us in the 21st century, we can look with all of, you know, 2,000 years of New Testament history behind us, and we can kind of identify where this is. It's no mystery. Even the secular commentaries nail it on who this chapter 17 is talking about. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. We all know a city that has seven hills in it. You know, you can go to the internet, it'll say Rome has seven hills. It'll also give you other cities that have seven hills in it. So one of the identifying characteristics, not the only identifying characteristic of where this beast is and where this false prophet will sit in a seat of authority, is in a city with seven hills. But that's not the only clue we're given. We're also told it's in scarlet and purple. We're also told that it's drunk with the blood of the saints. We also know the history of a church who has had that as a large part of their history for most of their history. We also know that there's only been one church that the kings of the world and the leaders of the world have ever looked to and bow down to that and allowed that church to span Europe. A church that's dominant still in parts of Europe, dominant in South America. We have all these clues that were given, this church that's over multitudes and peoples and tongues and nations. So we have plenty of clues where this is so we don't have to think, where is it? God gives us those clues. The seven heads are seven mountains. There are also seven kings. We talked about that. You can go back to that chart we talked about. It says that this one will continue a short, short time. It mentions again in verse 11 that this one's going to go to perdition, just like Revelation 19, when Christ returns thrown into the lake of fire. First 12 tells us about the ten horns. The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour, just a short period of time, as kings with the beast.

They get something out of that union. It's an unholy alliance. It's not a perfect, harmonious union where they have a love fest with each other. It is a union that is designed to get what each other wants, a faulty union. These are of one mind for a period of time, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. I will yield to you. I will wed myself to you.

But look what they do. Look what the end result of this union is. These will make war, verse 15 or 14, with the Lamb. You know, through the church over the years, and I was growing up, and even today, I hear, you know, well, the world is going to think probably that it's being invaded by aliens when Christ returns. Now, we have these movies, you know, that are fascinating to watch, of aliens invading the earth. When the world is assembled there with all of its armies and all of its weaponry, they will think that it's an invasion from outer space. That may well be. The masses may well do that. That may be one of the falsehoods that the church provides and the peace power provides at that time. But I think in reading through Revelation and seeing the judgment that God makes on the beast and this man that will be thrown into the lake of fire, the beast and the false prophet, I think they know exactly who they are fighting. I think they know exactly who they are up against and that they know they are fighting against God. You know, the rest of the world may not, but they probably do. And I can't say that with certainty, but the Bible doesn't say they will think they're making war with earth. You know, they won't know they're making war with earth. These will make war with the Lamb.

And the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. So the armies that come with Him in heaven, you know, the people that God, the bride of Christ that will come back with Him, they're the called, chosen, and faithful, you know, those who we've been called to be. And then He says, okay, we've already read verse 15. That's another, you know, clue of who the church is. But then we see this union dissipate, you know, somewhere along the line. And whatever Satan is involved in things, it's never perfect unity, right? It always turns, tends to, it always falls apart. It always results in hatred. It always results in division. It always results in discord. And here we have that in verse 16. The ten horns, the ten kings, and the ten kings, which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot. They'll hate that church. They'll make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

So something happens. Who knows what? One blames the other. This didn't come through. You didn't honor your commitment of this. This isn't what we thought it would be, etc., etc., etc. Whatever happens, whatever happens, those ten kings turn on that church and they destroy it. They destroy that religious, that religious system that's there. Make her desolate, naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. God is in control, we see in verse 17 of the whole thing, for God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. His prophecy will be fulfilled. No doubt about it.

No way around it is simply going to be the way God said it will be. And we can take that to the bank and we can certainly bank our, if I can use the expression, we can bet our lives on it because God is in control. And what we read in these chapters will definitely happen. No, no doubt about it.

And then verse 17, again he reiterates, the woman whom you saw is at Great City, which reigns over the kings of the earth. You know, I think we can all agree, and if anyone disagrees, we can talk about it later. But, you know, there's only one church that fits the bill and that would be the Catholic Church down through the ages. The Catholic Church today, it is always exercised extreme authority over the earth. And even in non-Catholic nations, we see the people paying close attention to what the Pope does today. That power will only escalate from now on. That authority in the world will only escalate from now on. We will probably see some of the Protestant religions join in with that as we have one great religion. All of them agree. All of them prostitute themselves to the Catholic Church and preach what the Catholic Church wants. And the Protestant Churches, you know, they still do that. Even though they had the Bible, they still worship, they still celebrate Christmas, they still celebrate Easter, those Catholic holidays. They still worship on Sunday, the Catholic prescribed Sabbath day rather than the seventh day. So they already are there and have been and have never fully left that false religion that they were part of. Like we're supposed to completely leave the religions that we came out of behind us and adhere only to God. So let me just pause there in chapter 17. We'll spend the next 20 minutes not going through all of chapter 18 because you can read much of this yourself. But if there's any questions, comments, observations, you know, on 17 and this religious power at the end, you know, or any other comments.

Just to echo what you just stated is that the daughters will follow their mother eventually.

Very good. Yes, good observation. Yeah. Yep.

Okay, well let's look at chapter 18. Now 17, you know, we have the religious system that's in place in chapter 18. We have the commercial system. They're, you know, they're different. We have a separation of church and states, you know, they kind of marry together. You know, keep in mind that when Jesus Christ returns to earth, there's a unity. There's a union between church and state. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. You know, God has called us and preparing us to be kings and priests. So there won't be this, this separate division as there is there. Everyone will be in unity together with the same heart, led by the same spirit, not what we see here in this power. That's, that's divided. Okay. So in 18, then we see the commercial world at that time. Only preface chapter 18 was saying that, you know, some people will look at chapter 18 and say, you know what? Defines America today. Obviously, Babylon, they'll say, is America today. And certainly, as you read through chapter 18, you can see, you can see elements of America in there. It is a very wealthy nation. The merchants of the world have made themselves rich as a result of us. Everyone looks to us. We are the commercial leader, the banking leader, the premier nation on earth today.

But I'll be clearly emphatic that chapter 18 is not talking about America. It is talking about an end time Babylon, a system that will be set up after the demise of America. Now, you know, God has patterns that you follow in history. You know, we're going to read here in a minute in chapter 18 about Babylon, the greatest fallen is fallen. We'll look at chapter, you know, back on Isaiah 13, where the prophet says Babylon is fallen is fallen. And the first Babylon fell. It was full of abominations and it knew God. And Nebuchadnezzar, you know, he was a unique king in the fact that, you know, he saw the miracles of God. He even had God put him through seven years as a beast to humble him. And so he knew God. He knew Daniel Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were of God, but he never embraced them fully. He might have recognized them, got mad at them, you know, sometimes along the line, but he saw the miracles, but he never gave away with his other, with the rest of his religious. He never gave up his idols. And so, you know, it was destroyed. And when God sees systems like that, like we just read about mystery, Babylon, and the Great, God destroys them. Same thing with commercial states that are very successful. That God blesses, and when they depart from God, we see that they go by... well, they just disappear from earth. I happened to see a video the other day, I guess, that that was a secular video. It had nothing to do with the church. The church didn't support it. Someone sent it to me, but it was interesting. It was quite lengthy. And the man who was speaking, he was being interviewed, used to be an atheist, and he's been watching America, and now he does studies into history and the far eyes and fall of kingdoms. And he was talking about how the great kingdoms of earth, and he had all the listed there, they have an age, you know, somewhere between 250 and 275 years. And he said, you know, here's America, 244 years old now. All the other kingdoms of the earth that became rich, that became the zenith of the earth, they all disappeared. And they all went through six stages, he said, of degradation. The final one being a total depravity and a breakdown of all the moral systems. So he was describing how where America is in this cycle and where we are. And he was talking about our economic system.

When he was talking about how it's risen and risen, and how all the other great things of the earth, when, when, because the person who was leading the interview asked him, well, what do you see happening to America?

What do you think the end will be? Will we just gradually decline? Will our economy just continue to falter? And he said no. He said what has happened to all the great economies of the world in the past, and what I see happening with America, when you look at our economic structure and how we're doing it, America is not going to have a steady decline.

America is going to fall off the cliff. In one day, it will literally, the whole world will change, and the fall will be great, because of everything that's set up, it's not going to be a long and lingering death. It will simply happen. And I thought it was very interesting the way he said it, and he did go to the Bible later and talk about that at the end times, it talks about a, a, a fall of a nation that is great, because that's how God operates.

And so when we look at America, you know, its fall is coming. The Bible is, is, is clear that it will come suddenly. And those of us who are prepared may not know the exact day or hour, but we will see it coming. It'll catch the world by surprise, because they'll be just thinking, everything is okay. Our politicians are in charge, and we're all okay, as long as they know what they're doing.

But, you know, that's, that's what happens. And remember when we looked at Revelation 13 and the rise of the beast power, you know, there's, and at Daniel 11, we had the powers at the end that were in the north of the Mediterranean, south of the Mediterranean, and the east. No one in the west. At that time, America has met its match. It has fallen off. It has completed its cycle. It has departed so far from God that God allows it to fall, which is what God does as a punishment to nations that simply no longer follow Him.

So the same thing happens in chapter 18 with this society that is also very wealthy, and that the world comes to, comes to enjoy simply because they get rich by it. But let's look at the first few verses here of chapter 18. After these things, you know, John says, I saw another angel. He comes down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated with His glory, and He cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen.

It fell back in ancient times, and the prophecy in Isaiah 13, and you can look at Isaiah 13, 20 later, you might go on and look at Barnes Notes in a commentary in association with that. It'll, it'll prophesy the fall of Babylon, and Barnes Notes is pretty good about looking at history and saying that Babylon was never rebuilt. It was never rebuilt exactly the way God said it would never be rebuilt.

It's one of those fulfilled prophecies of life that you can't ignore. People have tried to rebuild. Saddam Hussein tried to rebuild. It simply will not be rebuilt because God said it wouldn't be rebuilt. So one fall of Babylon occurred, but the next fall of Babylon lies yet ahead of us, this system that will be set up that has a religious power and a commercial power and a military power.

Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and has become, has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. You know, the unclean and hated birds are things like the vultures and even the eagles, ones that eat the carry-on of the earth and whatever.

So they're all harboring over here because what are they ready for? They're ready to pick apart what's going to be left of this society when God decimates it. They sense the end is near, just like the vultures. You know, when you see them on the road, they kind of circle and wait, and they know that there's something dying out there that they can devour. And this is what this city has become, you know, a dwelling place of demons.

There's just an ugly, ugly picture when God looks at it and we look at it through God's eyes. The dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit. You know, you look at the spirit that's on the earth today and the spirit of hate, the spirit of the vision, the spirit of accusation, the spirit of, oh, everything.

It's just such, such an ugly spirit that's out there in the world today, and that's going to mark this society, you know, then as well, even though it's a very wealthy, very wealthy society, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird.

Verse 3. Did someone have a comment? Okay. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. It's going to be a very alluring, a very attractive, a very attractive world to be in, and they're going to, they're going to make a lot of money in that world. God sends a warning to his people. I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

Don't drink of her cup. Don't become like her. Don't become enamored with her. Don't get comfortable in that. You may be living in that society, like we may be living in America today, but we don't become part of the society. We don't succumb to the things that surround us in society, the attitudes and the things that it can lead us into. For her sins have reached the heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. In verse 7, it says in the measure that she glorified herself. This is also always a part of too. You know, I'm rich. I'm increased. I need of nothing, right? That's kind of the latest seeing attitude that we want to avoid if we ever see part of that, because that sounds a lot like Satan, who is, I'm the best. I'm great. I want to be like God. And the measure that she glorified herself, you know, and thought so highly of herself, and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, I sit as queen. I am no widow, and I will not see sorrow. Therefore, because of these attitudes that are extant there, therefore her plagues will come in one day. There is the suddenness again, even in this society. The world will be going along. They will be anti-God. They will be high-fiving each other and living a life. But the end comes suddenly.

Therefore, her plagues will come in one day, death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. Quite a picture, quite a forecast of what will happen, kind of even a forecast of what happens to a great nation that isn't even in existence at that time, that this time is picturing of how God's judgment is.

Verse 9 says, the kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her, they'll weep and lament when they see the smoke of her burning. And you can read down through the verses here and see all the things that this power was able to bring on the earth, all the good things that it provided, at least the good things that they thought it was.

Down in verse 17 it says, in one hour, here again suddenly, in one hour, such great riches came to nothing. Every shipmaster, all who traveled by ship sailors and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, what is like this great city? How did this happen? How did this happen? Well, you know, we go through it, and again, you know, there are people who have even attended our church who have left because they are adamant, they say, Revelation 18 is talking about America. And I said, no, it's not talking about America. They sound like America, but it is clear that this is the end-time Babylon, the city, the nation that exists before the return of Jesus Christ. And that nation that exists is not America at that time. That's not who the world is marveling over. That isn't the world, that isn't who the world is looking to. As a great military leader in might, it is a very foreign power to us that we'll become more and more familiar with. But in verse 24, it defines when the society is and who it's affiliated with. Verse 24 says, and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints and of all who were slain on the earth. Now we can go back to chapter 17. We see Babylon the Great. What marks it, it's drunk with the blood of the saints. The religious system supported by the commercial system puts to death the truth of God and the Christianity of God.

This is the end-time Babylon that will be there that God will exact his judgment on. So it's a time yet ahead of us. We can see some of the things happening in the world around us that lead us.

That lead us. I mean, we're kind of living in some of the things right now, but we can see where the world is headed. And more and more clearly with each passing day, it seems we can recognize the world that will be at that time. Our job is to, you know, get even closer to God, become even more knowledgeable and yielding our heart to him so that we are part of those people that he speaks of often in this book that we may be counted as part of the book of life. So let me end it there with Revelation, you know, and I will open it up for any discussion. Then we'll talk a little bit about what we, you know, we'll start in on next. So if anyone's got any comments or if there's anything that we haven't covered that you would like to see us cover, you know, you can let me know that. Or any questions, anytime on anything, you know, I'm always available by email or you can call or whatever. But let's leave it there for the book of Revelation. I hope you have a clearer, you know, a clearer picture of what God is talking about. And, you know, we've learned something about prophecy, but hopefully learned something about ourselves too and how what God is looking for us to do. So let me stop talking.

Belashimi. I have a question. Okay.

Zachariah chapter 5, where he talks about a woman being put in a container and brought and kind of imprisoned until it's time for her to... does that relate to chapter this chapter right here? Is that 18 verse 2? The two babylons or no? I've always thought of it. I've never really examined it, but I just came to mind and said let me ask you.

Chapter 5 starting about verse 8. Okay.

I would have to go back and read that. I don't know offhand, but I can get back and get back with you. Yes, thank you.

Okay, well, let me throw out... I think where...

I've had a couple of books in mind, you know, that we would go to next, and I threw them out at the afternoon at the afternoon session, but the one that's in my mind the most is the next book that we can go through on these Bible studies is the book of Hebrews. It's, you know, the book of Hebrews is kind of a transitional book, if you will. It's got a lot of truth in there. It helps us understand a lot of the transition between the Old and the New Testament. It's got a lot of instructions for how we live our lives, and, you know, even at the feast, I was faced with a few questions of people who misunderstood some verses in Hebrews, and as we talked about them, I could see they were fuzzy. Not anyone from this area, so don't think about who it might be. You don't know them, but I think it might be good for us to go through the book of Hebrews. The other one that's been in my mind is the book of Acts, but I... so I want to throw it out there and see what you think. I know what the afternoon group thinks, and we'll see what you think. So... Are you doing a sentence? Pardon?

Are you asking the... Actually, I'll probably just say the afternoon group was pretty much in the cord that Hebrews is what they would like to go through next. So I think that's what we're going to be. That's what we're going to start next week. I'm not going to do one in Acts and one in Hebrews at the same time. So I'm just hoping to hear, in God's Spirit, the United States, and the Hebrews will be. What we'll do is we'll begin... We'll be going through Hebrews. So, you know, you can be looking at Hebrews 1, you know, for next week, you know, same time, same station, one o'clock in the afternoon, seven o'clock in the evening, but I think we will learn a lot in the book of Hebrews as we go through it, you know, verse by verse and look at what God has recorded there for us. Well, Shabir, let me make one last comment. Daniel 11 verse 37, it speaks of the man of sin not having any desire for woman, and now we see the Catholic Church promoting homosexual marriage, and it just seems as if no... that's just one more step forward.

You know, that's interesting. That's interesting. Yeah, I never looked at that first, but in the light of what's going on today, that may be showing that. So I was talking to you, he was so enamored with himself, there wasn't any woman who was ever going to lead him astray, or who was going to pay attention to what they want, he was just going to do what he wanted, but maybe that's showing what the leader of that church will be like and what he will be like. It's a good man of sin, yeah. Yep. Interesting. Okay.

Anything else? Yes.