Who is the Woman Riding the Beast in Rev. 17?

Thank you, Ray. I'm really looking forward to giving this message, which about two months ago, I started doing research on this subject. It just grew from one question to another. So I've been preparing quite a bit to give you this message. So after the feast, here we come back to the present evil world, as Paul mentions in Galatians 1, verse 4, where the term Aeon is better translated as world.

This is our present living and evil society that we have to face again. We had a wonderful time among the brethren and being in peace and harmony, speaking the truth, learning more about God's truths. But here we are again, now, rubbing elbows with society. And sure enough, it seems like Satan planned everything where after each one of God's feasts, then we have this counterfeit feast that appears from the world's point of view. And Satan loves to counterfeit God's truths.

And this is an example. We always have a feast during the fall. But then we have now two of these holidays that we're about to see. One of them this coming Tuesday is Halloween. And then just about a month and a half later, we have Christmas. And we aren't exaggerating the seriousness of these substitute feasts of the world. They are not funny to God at all. And we're going to look into a little more of that information, although that's not the main subject today.

Will Durant, one of the historians from the U.S., actually won a Pulitzer Prize for his research in his book, The Story of Civilization, back in 1950, had several volumes of this going through the history of mankind. He wasn't religious at all, so he doesn't have a dog in the hunt at all. He just goes through it and looks at regular history and tried to be as objective as he could.

And he mentions this after the time of Emperor Constantine becoming allied to the Roman Church at the time. He says, paganism survived in the forms of rites and customs condoned or accepted and transformed by an often indulgent church. The Roman Saturnalia were replaced by Christmas celebration. An ancient festival of the dead was substituted by All Souls' Day, which is November 2nd. And actually, there's three different Catholic feasts involved.

One is what we would call Halloween, All Halloween, which is the eve of All Saints' Day, which is the following day, November 1st. And then comes All Souls' Day, November 2nd. So it's actually three days of a feast. And he says that this ancient festival of the dead had been replaced and rededicated to Christian heroes. From History.com on Halloween.

This term is All Hallows' Eve. And a hallow means holy. So this is the eve of the Roman holiday that has to do with All Saints' Day. Goes on to say, the tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which was the name of the Celtic Lord of Death. These were the Druids, the Celtic priests that went before and prayed to this Lord of Death on the Celtic New Year, which is November 1st, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the 8th century, Pope Gregory III in 741 designated November 1st as a time to honor all saints.

In other words, he created this supposedly holy day for the Catholic Church. And it's still celebrated today, those three different ones. Now, does a Pope have the authority to set aside a day for a holy day? Calling it a holy day? Hallo-een, which is the evening of this, right before this holy day that he named. From another website, catholicculture.org. Now, this is a positive Catholic source. It says, the eve of Salwyn, October 31st, because that starts in the evening, was a time of Celtic pagan sacrifice. And Salwyn allowed the souls of the dead to return to their earthly homes that evening.

Ghosts, witches, goblins, and elves came to harm the people. And so they admit this, and how this became Christianized, this pagan holy day or holiday, in history. So you have three of these days that are being kept by the Catholic Church. And it's interesting that November 2nd, which is called All Souls' Day. So the previous one is All Saints' Day. That has to do with all the Catholic saints that are honored on that day.

But then All Souls' Day has to do with all the Catholics being honored who have died. And it says this, the Vatican II was the meeting of the Catholic Church back in the 1960s. Their document on indulgences says, A plenary indulgence, which means full indulgence, applicable only to the dead, can be gained in all churches on November 2nd.

So it says, this is a special day. If you go there, your sins will be forgiven. There will be an indulgence. In other words, you're having a payment for the forgiveness of your sins by showing up in church. And that is granted by the Pope that you are able to have your sins forgiven. BibleInfo.com adds, quote, So there it shows the purpose, which is getting all these pagans to say, well, you don't have to give up your practices. We are adopting these practices.

We're turning them into now Catholic practices. And that way you can be part of us. In other words, this exchange between what should be biblical truth. And now we're mixing it with pagan error. So again, we have to speak the truth. And many times as society continues developing, they say, all these things are not as that bad anymore. And it doesn't matter their origins. People think it's nice and kids running around with costumes and doing all these things.

But what does God say about this? Is he pleased with this? Is this what he wants his church to do? Compromise with his truths? So this is why it's so important. It's much bigger than just Halloween. It has to do with the ageless struggle between God's truths and Satan's lies. And it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where the first lie was told to Adam and Eve. What were those consequences? They weren't funny. They weren't cute. Cause enormous pain and suffering that we are all witnessing and experiencing in this lifetime. Notice in Deuteronomy chapter 12, Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse 29. Deuteronomy 12, verse 29 says, When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess and you displace them and dwell in their land, talk about ancient Canaan, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?

I also will do likewise. God says you shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. For every abomination to the Lord which he hates they have done to their gods. For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Whatever I command, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away. So God tells us, don't add pagan ideas and don't take away God's truths either. So you're not to water down or remove and you're not to add to it. That's why, brethren, we don't observe Halloween or Christmas or Sunday.

It's something that God tells us we should follow his teachings. Jesus Christ said the same thing in Matthew 24. And he's actually talking about from his time all the way to when his return happens. Matthew 24, verse 21.

He says, for then, this talk about the end time, there will be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be. So it's going to be the worst period in human history. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. So, of course, that means nobody would be left alive if God just let history run its course at this time. Man would eventually destroy himself completely. And that's a possibility that's very real today. Now, Putin is threatening with nuclear weapons and all of these nations that have nuclear weapons, they could be incited or provoked into using it. But God is not going to allow man to be destroyed that way. He says, but for the elect's sake, for that little flock that's following God's truths, that has resisted Satan's lies, who continues doing his work here on earth, for the elect's sake, those days will be short. God will intervene in time. And then it goes on to say, then if anyone says to you, look, here is a Christ, or there, do not believe it. And there have been false groups that have been taken to jungles and basically have wiped themselves out. People saying that that's where Christ was guiding them. He says, don't believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And Christ says, see, I have told you before, and he's warning us. We could be deceived, brethren. We could just water our beliefs down to the point where we begin observing some of these things taught by false teachers and begin adopting pagan beliefs, as it has happened in the past. And it will happen in the future. So he says here that if it were possible, they could even deceive the elect.

So that means it's going to be very powerful, what comes. And God wants to prepare the church to continue being faithful. So during this period that we're in, between Halloween and Christmas, it's a good time to review the false religious system of the world and not be deceived. Now, the best antidote for lies is learning the truth about these things. So you don't just foolishly enter in or take it for granted or begin compromising in just one step at a time, as many have done. In particular, there is one symbol in all of this deceit. And we're going to focus on this in particular, and I'm planning to give a series of sermons, probably three of them, in these coming weeks. This is the first one in Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17 in verse 1 and 2. This is talking about an end time event. Verse 1, it says, So who is this woman, this fallen woman, that's riding the beast? Do you know? Are you sure? Can you prove it with documentary evidence? Is it truly important to you? Or would you rather just have nice, sweet, spiritual things to talk about all the time? I'll tell you, these things are very important. Our spiritual salvation depends on some of these things. When it happens, we're either going to be prepared and reject them, or we will be like those five spiritual virgins that weren't prepared. And they fell by the wayside. They didn't make it. So we can be deceived. We have to accept that. And if we're not prepared, we will be deceived. It's going to be so powerful, so convincing and compelling. So what is the dividing line between God's people and the world? It's found in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. This is the dividing line. Now, of course, you have to have the fruits of God's spirit. Those are spiritual actions that we should have in our lives. I want to focus on more of the belief system that a person needs in order to survive in the future. In 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2, starting in verse 1. Paul's not known to discuss much about prophecy, but he did, especially in this chapter. Notice in verse 1, it says, So this is an important topic about Christ's return. And he mentioned certain things that would happen before Christ's return.

He said, let no one deceive you by any means. So he took up Christ's warning about this. For that day will not come of Christ's coming unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. Now, it is predicted that people will fall away from the truth at that time. And it does talk about a spiritual rebellion that's going to take place where Satan is going to try to usurp and dethrone God, and he's going to be cast down to the earth. And when Satan is cast down, he will have authority for a certain amount of time. And it says, the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition. This is talking about the personage that we would call the false prophet. This is the person that is also mentioned in Revelation 17. He is the one who is going to deceive the world with his miracles, and he's going to focus on another personage that's going to be along with him, that is actually the antichrist. And who people will worship the antichrist? Going on, it says, Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So we have the beast and the false prophet involved in this. The beast is the one that's going to be worshipped through the teachings and false miracles of the false prophet. He says, Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? So Paul wasn't just talking about spiritual doctrine. He was telling him about, prepare yourself brethren. He thought this was very important. And he says, And now you know what is restraining, talking about restraining or limiting this from happening, that he may be revealed in his own time.

So God still hasn't given permission for this to happen in the future, but it will. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. This is the false counterfeit system that we're talking about that disguises itself as true Christianity, but isn't. It's something that is very subtle. It looks good on the outside in many ways, but inside it is rotten. It is evil. It is hypocritical. He says, Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. Well, these are Michael, the angels, all of these that God has to protect God's people until the time of death. Satan's rebellion, and then there will be a time when this will all be allowed to happen this end time period, three and a half years long. And when the lawless one will be revealed, in other words, he receives this power, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. So this person is going to be alive when Christ comes back. So again, talking about the beast and the false prophet, each one having a paper or a roll to carry out. The coming of the lawless one is according to the workings of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. So again, we tend to focus on the false prophet here because in Revelation 13 it talks about the two beasts, and one is the beast itself, the personage, that's the military political leader, and then you have the false prophet, who is the religious leader. And in Revelation 13 it says the religious leader is the one that creates all of these miracles. And he puts all the emphasis on people worshipping the first beast. And it says here that this one has all these power signs and lying wonders. Now we never see in Scripture that actually the beast has lying wonders. It's the false prophet, the one who has lying wonders. And that's just throughout all of Revelation, it talks about this. And we'll see that in Revelation 17 as well later. And with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because here's the reason why people are deceived, they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So here's the dividing line. Those who receive the love of the truth. And that includes what kind of days we worship and what days we do not worship. They love the truth. It's not just accepting God's truths, it's loving them. Loving them despite all our imperfections and despite all the difficulties, because God's people are not powerful. They've still got hang ups, they've got problems. But the love of the truth, do we have that or don't we have it? Verse 11, and this is what's going to happen, that God is going to allow the deception to go on in the world. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion, these people that did not receive the love of the truth, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Oh, they kept on breaking God's commandments, keeping false feasts, doing all of these false things. The following translation, the Living Bible, verses 11 and 12, I'd like to read them. It says, so God will allow them to believe lies with all their hearts. See, God's going to permit this. And all of them will be justly judged for believing falsehood, refusing the truth with capital T, and enjoying their sins. So the love of the truth is a dividing line between truth and error, and we must never water it down. Now, we can't go through extremes, and we have to see what is important before God, and this is important. We're not going to overemphasize it as the only thing, because we have to love. It says if we don't have love, all these other things just don't amount to much. But it's love and truth. It's not just love at all.

So we are going to begin this series titled, Who is the Woman Writing the Beast in Revelation 17? Who is the Woman Writing the Beast in Revelation 17? Now, I'm only going to do this once, because it's very disagreeable to cover a lot of this historical material. And it's taken me two months just to research and call out and sift through all of this material. It's not pleasant, and I just want to make a summary of it, but we need to know the seriousness of it before it happens. We don't know when this deception is going to happen, but it can happen soon. And I want to make sure that we are, you know, vaccinated so that this virus doesn't infect us like it can, this spiritual virus. First, let me give you the background about the symbol of the woman writing the beast. Number one, is the source of this false religious system goes back to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's where it begins with the first man and woman. Notice in Genesis chapter 2, in verse 9, when God created the Garden of Eden, he said in verse 9, And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil. And so this was a test that God was going to submit man to. Were they going to faithfully follow His Word, His instructions, or were they going to use their own will to defy God and to accept what Satan taught as truth?

Notice in chapter 3 of Genesis verse 22.

After Adam and Eve took the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it says verse 22, So He's now going to use His own powers of reasoning and His own will to come up with what is good and what is evil. That's what he was saying here.

So it starts here in the Garden of Eden, and God had told him that the day it says in chapter 2 verse 17, He says, Now this is a poor translation of what it is in Hebrew because it doesn't mean you're going to die that very day. And they certainly didn't die. But actually in the Hebrew, it doesn't mean that at all. What it means is that you are going to begin to die. You're not going to have access to eternal life anymore. And your life is running out just like a clock that is winding down. The Heart Sayings of the Bible, a book on supposed Biblical contradictions, explains about this passage and points to, the certainty of the predicted consequence that would be set in motion by the act initiated on that day. That's what he says. You started now, you're going to go downhill, and your life is winding down to the very end of it. And that's what it meant here. So I'd like to now hand out a historical illustration about the false religious system. And we're going to put it also on the TV screen for you to see. So we can hand this out. It's called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and This World's False Religions. This is something I composed years ago. I've updated it. And I want to give you this updated version of it. So this is a good way to illustrate the origins of this false religious system. And we begin at the bottom of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I've symbolized in this way. It's actually the history of this false religious system. It has five chief doctrines in common. And you look at all these false religions of the world because they answer five basic questions.

Does everybody have one? Okay, we've got plenty, so everybody should get a copy.

That's the reward of coming today.

So what is God is the first question of any religion. And the false religious system answers that either polytheism, which means multiple gods, certainly doing the research after the flood, the first great civilization arose in southern Iraq in a place called Sumer, where the Sumerians are from. But they were not this war-like people, but after Noah's descendants came down and they settled that area of Mesopotamia, it was in Sumer where civilization, from all the archaeological discoveries and also especially in the past century and a half, the Sumerians were the first ones that started civilization but with these false teachings. And so you have the false gods, and you have all of these which later the Babylonians conquered the Sumerians, especially under Sargon the First.

And he is basically by many archaeologists, considered to be the Nimrod figure that's in the Bible. He conquered that whole area, took the knowledge of the Sumerians and really spread it out.

Then later on there would be this division of the languages and people would take their different ideas with them. So basically, for a great number of people on the earth, what is God? Oh, he's many gods. He's the god of the sun, he's the god of the planets, he's the son of the earth and fertility gods, the Greeks and Romans had a polytheistic society, as many did.

Then when false Christianity came along, they said, well God is a trinity. And so they put one being but with three different persons in this one being. And so that is taught through probably 95% of Christianity teaches the trinity doctrine. Which is not found in the Bible. And there's not a basis to it at all, but the Catholic Church was the one that really adopted it. Back after Constantine's time and basically was imposed by another emperor, Theodosius I, who back in 381 AD said, everybody in the Roman Empire has to believe in the trinity or you will be persecuted, your goods will be confiscated and you will be branded as a heretic.

And that ended the argument. So God's people in the true church had to flee the Roman Empire because it became an absolute belief. And of course, from the Catholic Church, it spread to the Protestant churches. We have this in this handout. So they do not teach that God is a family. God the Father and God the Son. They have a oneness, but still they're not the same being. That's what the Bible teaches. Look at the Mike and the authors for the sermon.

They're in 1 Peter 1. Talk about blessed be, God the Father and Jesus Christ. Doesn't add any more. Doesn't take away any more. That's the teaching. Okay, the second question is, how is he adored? It's a mixture of pagan tradition and Bible distortions. So welcome to all of these churches. You go to them and you're going to find they have a mixture of pagan traditions and Bible distortions. In other words, they distort Bible teachings to fit these false teachings about it.

That's why people tell me that they finally gave up on these evangelical or Protestant or Catholic churches. Once they knew the truth, you can't go back and, you know, undo what you already know. You can't go back to these false teachings and just turn the other way and try to be nice to everybody and say, well, the teachings are not what I go to.

I just want to have fellowship. Well, is that the love of the truth? It isn't at all. So that's in the false system how he is adored. Then the third question, when is he adored? The answer from the false system, the day of the sun and the pagan feasts. Those are the things that you should follow. What is man? Their answer? He's an immortal soul. A sentence after death to either go to heaven or go to hell, which answers the fifth question.

What is his destiny? Heaven or hell? So as we go up this tree, its founder is Satan. Genesis 3.1, 1 John 3.8 says that all have fallen under the spell and deceit of Satan the devil. So yes, the majority of the world's religions are based on his false teachings. 1 John 3.8. I'll read it to you.

It says, He who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. And so that's what Christ is doing. He's actively fighting these false teachings. How many churches do you know that are actively fighting these false teachings? Very few. As one religious commentary mentions that as time goes along and things are watered down, there's less belief in the Bible, less belief in truth. It says they actually are converting not water to wine, but are converting wine to water. See, everything is getting watered down. It's very sad. Adam and Eve take of the fruit of it. So this is what would be spread throughout the world. The false teachings, Cain and his worldly descendants were the ones that propagated it before the flood. And then everyone except Noah and his family perished. Genesis 6-12. They had forsaken God's ways except for Noah and his family. And so there was a break in this tree with the flood. So you think there weren't any nice people at that time? Don't you think people had nice neighbors and did nice things to each other? Yes, they did. They just corrupt. And of course, the corruption finally led to the evil thoughts were just rampant in the world. And God had to put a stop to it. Just like you have to get rid of a barrel full of rotten apples because any good apple that you put in is going to rot. It's going to get infected. And so then after the flood, Nimrod was the one that raised up these cities in that area of southern Mesopotamia. And again, Nimrod does not necessarily mean that he did it all or that everything of these false religions started. But he was a big promoter of it. And again, the Sumerians talk about Gilgamesh as their leader, their religious guide. And then King Sargon is another one that the Babylonians mentioned as originating many of these teachings. We have the division of the languages, Genesis 11, with the Tower of Babel.

And then we have the Babylonian Empire, which is the first great world empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and Imperial Rome. This is the way the falsehoods propagated. And now to the left, you have the Oriental religions. Well, they also took it from the division of the tongues and Babel. And they have their Hindu and Buddhism and all of these. These are all false teachings. Hindu has polytheism, multiple gods. Buddhism is a reformation of Hinduism, with Buddha as being the main teacher. But they still believe in many false gods. And it's a system that has deceived probably a billion people in the world so far. You know, the Hindus, they have over a billion people. And most of them are Hindus. They've been deceived. Then you have another branch, Islam, with the Muslims. They're deceived.

And then on the other side, you have primitive religions. The animism, which is talk about the worship of basically everything on the earth, trees and water and animals. Everything has this God in them, and you have to satisfy them. But from the Roman Empire, you have the main branch that is the seven resurrections of the Holy Roman Empire, allied with the Roman Church, Emperor and Pope. That's the main system, and the most powerful one. But you have the Greek and Russian Orthodox that branched out. They were part of the system.

And in 1054 AD, the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, they separated. And it's called the Great Schism in history, where the Pope excommunicated the Patriarch, and the Patriarch excommunicated the Pope. And there's been this division of what used to be a united Catholicism. But then the final break was the Protestant branches that broke away back in the 1500s.

But they also carried much of the baggage of the Catholic Church. It was only a partial reformation. It wasn't really substantive at all, as we will see in the series of sermons that we have in the future. So it talks about Revelation 17.5 of Babylon the Great and her daughters. So it wasn't just a woman, but that she had daughters that came along and spread the same system throughout the world. It will be destroyed at Christ's Second Coming, Revelation 18.21.

It talks about the destruction of this false religious system. And it will not be left with any root or branch, Malachi 4.1. So all of this stuff is not going to be part of Christ's kingdom that we just finished the Feast of Tabernacles looking forward. Do you think we're going to have Halloween when Christ comes back?

Do you think we're going to have Christmas? Halloween, talking about the Druid priests and doing human and animal sacrifices and all of these ghouls and things and witches. It's a part of what this system actually backs and supports. No, it's not. Satan's not going to be around and nothing that represents him will be around. And also the other false teachings. Let's go to Jeremiah 51 as we wind down this message, because we're going to study a little more about how Babylon was the one that more fully developed the false religious system.

Notice that it's in the Old Testament where Babylon is described as being the fount or the source of the false religious system. Jeremiah chapter 51 starting in verse 6. It says, But this was happening in the Old Testament times. It says, So this deadly mixture of falsehood and mixture of truth is the cup that people have drunk. And we have come out of false systems to be part of a true system now. We cannot go back, brethren. So Jeremiah 51, 6 and 7 shows the same as Revelation 17, a key figure, a mystery that God reveals.

And so next time, after the Sabbath in the park, I plan to continue giving you the seven characteristics of this woman riding the beast so we can clearly identify who she is. Now how to use this information? Before I end, let's go to Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4, because we don't want to beat people over the head with God's truths. But we have to be ready to explain it to people when they become interested. Colossians chapter 4 verse 5, it says, It reminds me a bit how they handle it.

They're giving out these booklets. I know Nora took one of those booklets. She continued on. She's here today as a church member through that community outreach. Let me read it to you from the Good News Bible version. It says, So when the opportunity avails itself, we have to know the truth, brethren, and the truth will make us free.

By the way, there's a book that I'm recommending. It's called A Woman Rides the Beast by Dave Hunt. It's on Amazon. It's actually kind of a textbook on this subject after all the research I've done. It certainly has the most truth that I've found in any of these books dealing with Babylon and the woman riding the beast. So with that, we finish the sermon.