Being in an illicit
affair may seem very exciting
00:00:01.36\00:00:04.57
until you wake up and
find you've been seduced.
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If there's
anything that Jesus values
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more than anything else,
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its loyalty, and
trust, and faith.
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He's such a wonderful Savior.
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We're talking about
this incomparable Jesus.
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And He's really
right in the middle
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of the Book of Revelation.
00:00:42.07\00:00:44.14
And we are
talking about His church,
00:00:44.17\00:00:46.71
and He wants to see
from His church loyalty.
00:00:46.74\00:00:49.04
But we're also seeing
seduction and unfaithfulness.
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So we want to go down
00:00:53.58\00:00:54.92
to the Book of
Revelation Chapter 17.
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And we're going to
see this other woman
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now come into focus,
she's called Babylon.
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Revelation Chapter 17,
I'm reading from verses 1-2.
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"Then one of the seven
angels who had the seven bowls
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came and talked to me, saying,
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'Come, and I will
show you the judgment
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of the great harlot
who sits on many waters,
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with whom the kings of the earth
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have committed fornication,
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and the inhabitants of
the earth were made drunk
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by the wine of
her fornication.'"
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There's this great principle
in Scripture called repeat
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and enlarge particularly
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in the great
prophetic prophecies.
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And, of course,
in our last session,
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we talked about
the seven last plagues,
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and particularly the six plague.
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And so the tie to the
plagues here is very clear
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because one of the
angels who had one of the bowls
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of the plagues,
comes and talks to John,
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and now begins to show him,
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I repeat and
enlarge in a picture
00:01:51.61\00:01:55.04
of this woman called Babylon.
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Now, it's going
to show her judgment
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because she's
committed fornication
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with the kings and
the rulers of the earth
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and the inhabitants of the earth
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are charmed with her,
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and they've been made drunk
by the wine of her fornication
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with these rulers and elders,
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not elders, but rulers
and kings of the earth.
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Why are they drunk?
Why do they get drunk?
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Because they
say, this look great.
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That we're going to
get a lot of benefits.
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I mean, this
relationship between Babylon
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and the leadership of the world.
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I mean, we're all going to
be, this is gonna be great,
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and they're
gonna be pretty upset
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with anybody
that gets in their way
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or doesn't go along with them.
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And this is, of
course, the mark of the beast
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is gonna come into all of this.
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People are going to see a grand,
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marvelous opportunity,
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and it's gonna
be very attractive,
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and very seductive.
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But God is going to judge her.
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It looks like she's
gonna have it totally,
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she says in another
place, I'll sit as a queen.
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I'll never see sorrow,
I'm not going to be a widow.
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But the Bible says
that God judges her.
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This isn't a fight that
God's people have to do,
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they just have
to trust the Lord.
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It is the Lord that
brings down this powerful, evil,
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seductive Babylon.
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Now we want to ask the question,
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who is this Babylon?
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Caroline J.
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Simon in her
article in Psychology Today,
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and the article is
entitled, "Don't be Seduced."
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And she says this,
and it's very interesting
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how it really describes
what the Bible talks about,
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and this symbolic Babylon,
who is going to be a reality,
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is becoming a reality.
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She says, "Don't be seduced,
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seductions,
meaning it is no accident
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that the route of
seduce is to separate
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or lead away."
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And she goes on to say,
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"Those who are
seduced are led away
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from the value central
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to their own
sense of integrity."
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And that's exactly
what happens to the world.
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Babylon seduces the world
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not to trust
God's Ten Commandments,
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but to trust her
own version of it.
00:04:10.85\00:04:13.52
So God's Church, the integrity
and the safety of God's Church
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is to trust God's law,
and Babylon seduces the world
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and leads them away
from their own integrity.
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It's an amazing.
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She goes on to say,
"Seduction may look romantic,
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but it's all about
self-centered power."
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Telling you if you look down
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through the
apostasy of Christianity,
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wherever you turn, it's
going to be about power.
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You know, the Church
of God is to be humble,
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the Church of God
is to be peaceable,
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the Church of
God is to minister,
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the Church of God is
not here for worldly power
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and wealth and to show,
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"Hey, we can just change
things through the political."
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No, the church is here
to change people's hearts.
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That's what Jesus did.
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He didn't try to take
over the political reigns
00:05:04.53\00:05:06.37
of government either
in the Jews or the Romans.
00:05:06.40\00:05:08.77
He could have, He
had the power to do it,
00:05:08.80\00:05:10.51
but He didn't.
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But what He did do was
He changed people's hearts,
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He's changed my heart.
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I hope He's changed your heart.
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Hope you've let
Him change your heart.
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He will if you let Him.
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And let's go on, it
says, "But the insidious..."
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She goes on to say,
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"The insidious, corrosiveness
of seduction is heightened
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by the seductress' defense."
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And the defense was,
after all, it was consensual.
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The Bible says
that Babylon actually
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deceives the kings of the earth.
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In other words,
she gets them involved
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and then she can
back off and say,
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"Well, it was consensual."
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Well, it was.
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It is, and it will be,
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but God holds the false church,
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the apostate church
responsible for the seduction.
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Well, let's go on
to Revelation 17:2
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so he carried me away
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in the spirit in the wilderness.
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Now we've been there before.
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I mean, in the wilderness,
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if you go back
to Revelation 12:13,
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you'll find that God's
Church is in the wilderness,
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she's being chased
by the great red dragon.
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And so this
wilderness is a place
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that's been a protection.
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We've also talked about
the United States of America
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being that great wilderness
where the earth open herself
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and swallowed up the flood
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and gave the woman a protection
or the church protection.
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The Christian church, of course,
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has been
persecuted first by pagan Rome
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and then of
course, by papal Rome.
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It was great...
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The great red
dragon was pagan Rome
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that was persecuting the church.
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And after the church
has been given these wings
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and flies into the wilderness,
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there is at least some
portion of that church,
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that faithful
church that goes astray.
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It goes into apostasy
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and this is where
this Babylon shows up.
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Now the kings of the
earth, notice her beauty,
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but she doesn't belong to them.
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The church belongs to Jesus.
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But, you know,
part of the church,
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part of this
woman, if you please,
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in a symbolic sense,
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she gets tired
of being persecuted.
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She gets tired of
living in the wilderness,
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and the kings of the
earth, those great men
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who rule the world,
they have civilization,
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they have wealth,
they have pleasure,
00:07:45.79\00:07:49.53
and they have comfort.
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So the attraction
between the two become mutual.
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She commits adultery on Jesus.
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That in the
process of coming adultery,
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she becomes very,
very popular with the world
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and with the
leadership of the world.
00:08:05.05\00:08:07.85
But the faithful
church continues to run,
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the faithful church continues
to be persecuted by her sister,
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her unfaithful
sister if you please.
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In the end of time,
this unfaithful church
00:08:17.73\00:08:21.16
becomes once again
the ruler of the world,
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but in a different
form, in a different form.
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And that's what the
Bible keeps showing us
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in the Book of Revelation.
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It's a same thing, but
it keeps changing form.
00:08:32.51\00:08:36.64
So we're gonna go
now to Revelation 17:3,
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"And I saw a woman
sitting on a scarlet beast
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which was full of
names of blasphemy,
00:08:44.92\00:08:47.72
having seven
heads and ten horns."
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So she's sitting now,
we see the seven headed,
00:08:51.26\00:08:54.96
ten horn beast
again for the third time.
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This seven
headed ten horned beast,
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first of all shows up
as the great red dragon,
00:09:02.57\00:09:06.44
that's pagan Rome.
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It shows up again,
as the leopard beast,
00:09:08.48\00:09:12.28
that's papal Rome,
and now it shows up
00:09:12.31\00:09:16.42
as the scarlet colored beast,
00:09:16.45\00:09:18.65
that's Babylon.
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Now, Babylon is going
to be kind of the same,
00:09:20.89\00:09:24.23
but yet different.
00:09:24.26\00:09:26.06
Remember, Revelation Chapter
13 said that this leopard,
00:09:26.09\00:09:30.33
when this leopard beast came on,
00:09:30.37\00:09:32.53
that there's beasts
from the earth came up,
00:09:32.57\00:09:34.64
and he formed an image
and gave life to this image
00:09:34.67\00:09:37.07
of the beast,
00:09:37.11\00:09:38.44
that image to the beast
00:09:38.47\00:09:40.61
is the same as Babylon,
00:09:40.64\00:09:45.08
as the same as this
scarlet colored beast
00:09:45.11\00:09:48.35
that you find in
Revelation Chapter 17.
00:09:48.38\00:09:51.89
So what you really
have is that even though
00:09:51.92\00:09:56.52
you have the
changes, the colors change,
00:09:56.56\00:09:59.16
this last beast,
this image to the beast
00:09:59.19\00:10:01.56
is made up of papal
Rome, and Protestantism,
00:10:01.60\00:10:05.67
they come together,
and they form an image
00:10:05.70\00:10:09.40
to the old Dark Age
beast, they form a new look.
00:10:09.44\00:10:14.28
So Babylon, the
image to the beast,
00:10:14.31\00:10:17.08
the scarlet colored
beast, it's all the same thing.
00:10:17.11\00:10:19.88
It's the final phase,
00:10:19.91\00:10:23.25
the final phase of apostasy.
00:10:23.28\00:10:26.52
And unfortunately,
this great Protestant nation
00:10:26.55\00:10:28.89
that I love and you love.
00:10:28.92\00:10:30.76
This nation right
now is in the process,
00:10:30.79\00:10:34.00
Protestant America
00:10:34.03\00:10:35.50
in the process of
forming this alliance,
00:10:35.53\00:10:39.40
that's going to be Babylon.
00:10:39.43\00:10:42.67
So both pagan
Rome and papal Rome
00:10:42.70\00:10:48.18
were known as Babylon.
00:10:48.21\00:10:50.28
And this last phase
is also known as Babylon.
00:10:50.31\00:10:55.48
So this new
phase, this new image,
00:10:55.52\00:10:57.92
this new woman, she's dressed.
00:10:57.95\00:11:00.52
I mean, she's attractive,
and she's powerfully seductive,
00:11:00.56\00:11:04.99
and the world just
seemed to be mesmerized by her
00:11:05.03\00:11:09.36
and her influence on the kings
00:11:09.40\00:11:12.43
and the leadership of the world.
00:11:12.47\00:11:15.04
Notice though, the
contrast between her
00:11:15.07\00:11:17.54
and the woman of Revelation 12.
00:11:17.57\00:11:19.71
Revelation 17:4 says,
00:11:19.74\00:11:21.98
"The woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet,
00:11:22.01\00:11:25.41
and adorned with gold
00:11:25.45\00:11:26.82
and precious stones and pearls."
00:11:26.85\00:11:28.98
She's going to
get your attention.
00:11:29.02\00:11:31.29
She's going to have
that Snapple crack and pop,
00:11:31.32\00:11:33.62
so to speak.
00:11:33.66\00:11:34.99
And the world looks
at her and said, "Whoa!
00:11:35.02\00:11:37.13
Wow! Isn't she something?"
00:11:37.16\00:11:40.16
Now remember, this, of
course, is in symbolic form.
00:11:40.20\00:11:44.27
But it goes on to
say, "Yes, she's beautiful.
00:11:44.30\00:11:47.67
She's seductive.
00:11:47.70\00:11:49.04
You may feel attracted to her,
00:11:49.07\00:11:50.97
but she has in her
hand a golden cup."
00:11:51.01\00:11:53.51
Well, gold is a wonderful thing.
00:11:53.54\00:11:55.14
But it's what it's
filled with is the problem.
00:11:55.18\00:11:57.61
It's filled with abominations
00:11:57.65\00:11:59.08
and the filthiness
of her fornication,
00:11:59.11\00:12:01.45
her fornication with
the kings of the earth.
00:12:01.48\00:12:03.35
And it brings
about great trouble
00:12:03.39\00:12:05.92
for the planet, great trouble.
00:12:05.95\00:12:07.76
Revelation 12:1
shows her sister,
00:12:07.79\00:12:10.73
her faithful
sister is being clothed
00:12:10.76\00:12:13.36
with the stars of heaven,
00:12:13.40\00:12:15.23
the moon and
the sun on her head.
00:12:15.26\00:12:17.80
So she's a
beautiful, pure woman.
00:12:17.83\00:12:22.00
So this pure woman dressed
in the garments of heaven
00:12:22.04\00:12:25.04
is in a pure relationship
with the Lord Jesus.
00:12:25.07\00:12:28.64
And she, of course,
brings on the Messiah
00:12:28.68\00:12:32.88
that's comes through
her symbolically, of course.
00:12:32.91\00:12:36.65
But this
fornicating woman, this Babylon,
00:12:36.69\00:12:40.56
this fornicating
woman, adulterous woman,
00:12:40.59\00:12:43.22
she gives birth
also, but she gives birth
00:12:43.26\00:12:45.39
to harlot daughters,
who bring great trouble
00:12:45.43\00:12:49.53
and sorrow for planet earth.
00:12:49.56\00:12:54.34
So one brings hope,
and healing, and blessing,
00:12:54.37\00:12:58.54
and salvation,
and the other brings
00:12:58.57\00:13:01.08
a false hope that ends in chaos
00:13:01.11\00:13:04.41
and destruction for the planet.
00:13:04.45\00:13:07.32
So Revelation 17:5 says,
00:13:07.35\00:13:10.15
"And on her forehead was a name
00:13:10.19\00:13:11.95
written MYSTERY,
BABYLON THE GREAT,
00:13:11.99\00:13:15.86
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
00:13:15.89\00:13:18.69
AND OF THE
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
00:13:18.73\00:13:21.96
Mysterious.
00:13:22.00\00:13:23.70
She has daughters.
This is an alliance.
00:13:23.73\00:13:26.23
Mysterious, because it's amazing
00:13:26.27\00:13:28.94
that people fall for this.
00:13:28.97\00:13:30.94
It's amazing that
people are so blind,
00:13:30.97\00:13:33.54
but that's what seduction does.
00:13:33.58\00:13:36.21
Seduction blinds
people to the real reason
00:13:36.24\00:13:39.91
why they're being seduced.
00:13:39.95\00:13:41.72
They think they're being loved.
00:13:41.75\00:13:43.72
But in reality,
00:13:43.75\00:13:45.19
they're being
led to the slaughter.
00:13:45.22\00:13:48.39
Seduction is a terrible thing.
00:13:48.42\00:13:51.53