Mike Bickle discusses the emergence of the harlot Babylon, a one-world religion that will seduce nations and even the church in the end times. He emphasizes the warnings from Paul about a significant falling away from the faith, where many will turn to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. Bickle explains that this false religion will appear tolerant and benevolent, but will ultimately lead to persecution of true believers. He highlights the importance of discernment in recognizing the dangers of this seductive system, which will be supported by political leaders for their gain. The sermon serves as a call to prepare the church to stand firm against this deception and to remain faithful to the truth of the Gospel.

We haven't been on the end times for a few weeks, so we're going to jump right back into it. I know that some of you are new with us here for the first time tonight, the STI and some of the others, but we're going to jump right in and end this. Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus and Lord, we ask you for your blessing. We ask you for the spirit of revelation upon the speaking and the hearing of your word. In the name of Jesus, release living understanding. We thank you. Amen. Revelation chapter 17. This class, we're continuing in our studies on the end times. Actually, this is session 16. We're looking at the harlot Babylon, the one world religion that Satan plans to raise up to seduce the nations, to seduce the nation of Israel, as well as seducing even the church of the Lord Jesus. Roman numeral one, and if you want these notes, you can get them on the website. They're available right now. Our primary premise of this passage is understanding that in end time prophecy, Paul emphasized that there would be a falling away from the faith at the end of the age. That's one of the greatest challenges for the end time church as leaders in the church. And there's many leaders that are in this class that we must prepare the church to stand strong and not to draw back and compromise. First Timothy chapter four, verse one, the spirit of prophecy, which is the Holy Spirit was expressly speaking through Paul. And here's what he said. The Holy Spirit expressly says, that means the Holy Spirit was emphasizing it in an unusual way to Paul, the apostle that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. So that in the last times, the Holy Spirit emphasizes to Paul that even those within the church would depart from the faith. Second Timothy chapter four, Paul said this for the time will come. And he's talking about the end times when the people will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, that's the word picture that their ears are itching to be pleased with that which they desire. Itching ears speak of ears that want to hear what is pleasing to their flesh. They will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth. Now, the first point I want to point out here is in second Timothy chapter four, verse three, sound doctrine or doctrine, which teaches on wholeheartedness in our pursuit of Jesus, it requires endurance. It says the time is coming where, where many will not endure these teachings, they'll be tired of them, and they'll say away with them. And they will turn their ears away from the truth. What that means is that they will no longer be open to hear what God intended when the word of God was in various passages, what God intended, they don't want to hear that. They've already determined that they want to hear something else. One more passage, and there's several that we could point out, but I just want to establish the point that Paul emphasized a significant falling away from the faith in the generation the Lord returns. It says in second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three, Paul gives two of the most significant signs of the generation the Lord returns. He said this, let no one deceive you by any means, for the day or the day of the Lord, which means the second coming of Christ, it will not come until the falling away comes first and until the Antichrist is revealed. So two of the most significant signs of the generation the Lord returns is the emergence of the Antichrist and a very noticeable global falling away from the faith. Now it's also important to understand that at the time where many are falling away, not most, I don't believe most the church is going to fall away, but I believe several hundred million potentially could fall away. But simultaneous with a great falling away will also be a great ingathering. We're believing God for a billion new souls to come into the kingdom and the great revival. So the number of the church will actually increase. Though many will fall away, many more will be added to the faith. Roman numeral two, we're going to look at our passage here in Revelation 17 which is the clearest teaching in the Bible describing a great harlot that emerges or is raised up by Satan in the end times to try to seduce the church and to seduce the nations. Revelation 17 and 18, just lock that down in your thinking. This is one of the most significant prophecies. It's a prophecy that continues for two full chapters of the book of Revelation. And this prophecy is significant because it gives us, it gives us insight into Satan's strategy to seduce the nations of the world and even to cause the great falling away. It says in Revelation 17 verse 1, I'll just give you just a little overview of what John saw. He saw a harlot and this harlot by the way is a worldwide false religion. But it also is a worldwide economic network. So it's a world religion, it's a religious network, but it's also an economic network. We'll look at that just, we'll just look at that a little bit. We're not going to go into detail into those two networks in this particular class on the studies on the end times, but I just want to reference it to you. Revelation chapter 1 verse, Revelation chapter 17 verse 1, the angel is speaking to John, an angel, and he says, John I'm going to show you the judgment of the great harlot. And he points out, he says this harlot sits on many waters. Verse 6, and John says, I saw this harlot, I saw this woman. Now this is so that we take it very seriously. This false religion, this global world religion was drunk with the blood of the saints. And then in verse 15, the angel goes on to describe to John what the symbolism of this harlot sitting on the waters. He goes on to say the harlot sitting on the waters, it means that the harlot is going to be over many peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. So we understand that this great harlot will have authority over many nations. It won't be just a, a religion in one part of the world. It will sit on many waters and the angel reveals to John, that means it will sit on many nations of the earth. It will have authority over the nations of the earth. So this is not a small thing that we're talking about. We're talking about a harlot religious system that will have authority or it will sit on, it will even, uh, oppress people in the nations of the earth. That's what that metaphor sit on. That's what that symbolism would speak of. It would sit on meaning it would oppress the true saints in the earth. Those that love righteousness. Now this global network will have two different expressions. And we want to pay attention to this because this is the devil strategy to cause many to fall away from the faith, but we're not going to be seduced by this strategy by the grace of God. We're going to be aware of it and we're going to be ready for it. And we are going to be warning the nations about it by this, by the anointing of the Holy spirit, the two expressions of, of this global network, because it's global because it sits on the nations of the earth. So we know it goes to all the nations. First, it's a religious network of great religious tolerance. That's important to understand on the front end, meaning the devil's going to raise up a worldwide network that will be very tolerant to everyone except for the true church. It will be very tolerant, which means, and pay attention to this thing of it being tolerant, it will teach that all roads lead to God, which is a, a demonic doctrine. All roads do not lead to God. All religions do not lead to God. That is a false doctrine from hell. It will stand up and say everybody's good, all religions lead to God and everybody is accepted who joins this religion and the multitude of the people in the nations will really like this religion. It won't seem oppressive to them because this will cater to the, to what they want to believe. Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism and Christianity and Judaism, Judaism, they all lead to the same place. You're already hearing leaders in the church starting to say that that is not the truth. There is only one way to the Father, that's through Jesus Christ. And so it will first appear as a very tolerant religious network that says everybody's right and nobody's wrong. The only group that's wrong is the true church of Jesus because we're saying it's not true that everyone is right. They're saying everyone's right but those guys who are telling us that, that we're all in error. Paragraph C, notice in verse 6 that this world religion that appears so kind and so tolerant, there's only one group they will be against and that's the true church. They will be drunk, they will be drunk on the blood of the saints. What's that mean? That means they will be intoxicated with the blood of the saints. Meaning they will be like somebody who's drunk, they will be emboldened. The more believers they kill, the bolder they will become as time unfolds. And the reason that they're intoxicated which means they, I mean they become frenzied in their lust to kill saints. And the reason the angel is telling us this prophecy is that we take this harlot religion very seriously. By the way this harlot religion's emerging already in its early forms right now. You hear some of the, you know the famous rock groups, you hear some of the famous politicians and religious leaders saying everybody we're going the same place, we're all going to be unified and the nations are cheering and they look nice but that religion will be drunk with the blood of the saints before it's over. So don't be deceived by the charming appearance of this tolerant world religion. Let's look at paragraph E, Revelation chapter 17 verse 3. Now John's going to, the angel is going to describe the relationship of the Antichrist to this world religion. And it has a surprising relationship to the Antichrist because at first the Antichrist is really close to this world religion but after a short amount of time the Antichrist turns on this world religion. I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll get there in a minute. It says in Revelation 17 verse 3, he said, John is speaking, I saw a woman, this is the harlot, the world religion, sitting on the Antichrist. The beast is the Antichrist in the book of Revelation 36 times. And this Antichrist had names full of blasphemy because remember the Antichrist will look like a man of peace but the angel tells John don't believe in his false presentation of being a man of peace and kindness. He blasphemes God and he hates the truth and he blasphemes everything that's true in his heart. And at first he won't reveal himself that way but we can be sure that even though he appears to be kind, just like this harlot religion appears to be kind, they are both filled with blasphemy at the heart level. When their true colors show up, when their true colors are manifest, both the world religion and the Antichrist will be seen as evil and blasphemous and haters of Jesus Christ. But notice the woman is sitting on the beast and then in verse 7 the angel continues, he says, I will tell you the mystery of this harlot woman, this world religion and I will tell you the mystery of the Antichrist or the beast that carries her. And so the woman is pictured sitting on the beast or the beast carrying her. The point is this, that initially the Antichrist provides resource and protection for her. She's sitting on him, he's carrying her, he's providing protection and resource. In other words, at the beginning they will be, they will appear to be very closely linked to one another and they will in fact be closely linked to one another. There's going to be a world leader and a world religion and they're going to be linked to one another in a very friendly way it appears. But the truth is, though the harlot religion doesn't know it because she doesn't believe in end-time prophecy, the truth is the Antichrist is only using her and he's going to cast her out when he gets through using her. Paragraph F, Revelation 17 verse 12 and verse 16. This is the great surprise in Revelation 17. The surprise is that in the middle of the final seven years before Jesus returns, this worldwide harlot religion is destroyed by the ten kings that are most loyal to the Antichrist. There appears to be a civil war that breaks out in the Antichrist evil empire and the kings that are closest, the ten kings that are closest to the Antichrist, the ten kings closest to the Antichrist are going to turn on this harlot, this worldwide religion and burn her and kill her and destroy her and you're going to ask why would this happen? But first let's read the passage and I'll tell you why. It says in verse 12, the ten horns which you saw are ten kings. Verse 16, so there's these ten kings, they are all on the beast, they will hate this false religion and they will make her desolate, they will make her naked and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. So you think this is interesting because this false religion is seducing the nations of the earth and even the true church away from Jesus. Why would the Antichrist let his top ten kings turn on her? Isn't this false religion serving the Antichrist? And the answer is yes, but only partially and only in a temporary way. Because the Antichrist's plan is not to have a world religion that can believe anything and worship anybody they want and be saved. He wants a very strict end time religion where he's going to force all the religions of the world to worship him and him alone. So he finances and he resources the emergence of this world religion so that Christians join it and their convictions are weakened and their conscience is defiled. Then Muslims will join it and Buddhists will join it and the Hindus will join it, Hinduism will join it and what's happening it's only a temporary strategy so all the major world religions join it so they weaken their convictions to their primary or their initial world religion and when they join this false religion they will then never go back to the one they grew up in and then the Antichrist is going to come he's going to say now I'm going to outlaw that world religion I'm going to burn it with fire I'm going to make it illegal now that you've left the religion you grew up with you have nowhere else to go you've already turned your back on it by joining the harlot church there's only one way to go you have to worship me and only me and that's where this thing is going so instead of taking people from Christianity into straight Antichrist worship he's going to have a two-step plan instead of going one step Christianity to the Antichrist worship he's going to take him from Christianity to the harlot to defile the conscience of believers so they'll never go back to Christianity and then the next step is to get them into full-on worship of Satan and the Antichrist that's where this thing is going let's look at the importance of this prophecy the importance of this prophecy revelation chapter 17 and 18 now we can't look at this prophecy with any great detail because we just have a few minutes in this class but I want to stir you up so that you go away and you study this prophecy revelation 17 and 18 paragraph a and again if you want the notes you can get these notes on the internet because we're not going to cover all the notes in the class they're they're they're provided so you can have further study revelation 17 and 18 this prophecy about the harlot is one of the most important in time prophecies it's the longest prophecy in the new testament and it's actually the longest prophecy in the old testament why why is it the longest prophecy in the old testament and the new testament concerning Babylon and God's judgment of Babylon because God wants us to understand how significant and how dangerous this false religion is as its relates to the city of Babylon so it's a very important prophecy and though there's a little bit of symbolism in revelation 17 don't be thrown off by it because the symbolism most of it the angel interprets it right there in revelation 17 it's it's not so difficult to understand there's a couple little symbolic points that are difficult but most of it is really straightforward if you read the chapter there's a false religion that's emerging it's going to get all the major religions of the world to join it and then after a short period of time the antichrist is going to outlaw it and demand that everybody worships him and only him and he will have a very strict religion and he will kill everyone that refuses his one world religion the one that's really on his mind so he's only going to seduce the nations with this temporary world religion the tolerant one so he can prepare them for the intolerant one the one where they have to worship the antichrist and only him paragraph b this prophecy is so essential because if you get seduced if anybody gets seduced by this religion and they join it though it will look so powerful and it looks so friendly they will end up in the lake of fire this chapter these two chapters deserve great much careful and diligent study these chapters are worth the effort to understand that's what i'm trying to say the main message paragraph c of these chapters is really easy to understand a false religion is going to emerge it's going to look real good and real powerful it's going to be destroyed and god's going to get rid of it that's the message of revelation 17 and you better not be deceived by it okay let's go on to uh the top of page three roman numeral four let's let's turn this up a little bit in the monitor here because i'm i can't quite hear up here thank you revelation four verse one revelation i i mean roman numeral four revelation 17 verse one and two the angel says come i will show you talking to john the judgment or the sure defeat of this great harlot this harlot who sits on many waters remember verse 15 the many waters means the harlot has authority over many nations and it goes on the angel goes on to say that the kings of the earth will commit fornication with this harlot but the inhabitants of the earth describes it quite differently the leaders of the earth the political leaders of the earth will commit fornication with this world religion with this world religion but the inhabitants of the earth will be made drunk by this world religion it's a very different relationship and a very different description of how the political leaders will relate to this world religion and how the people the inhabitants of the earth will the billions of the earth now before the angel shows john the glory and the splendor of this false religion because this false religion is going to have much money great wealth and great respect and honor in the nations of the earth but before john show before the angel shows john the the glory of this false religion how rich it's going to be and how much respect it's going to have in the nations john says i want you to know or the angel says i want you to know this great religion is world religion is going to be judged and destroyed and annihilated so don't even be tempted by it because it's only going to emerge for just a few years then it's going to be wiped out by the judgment of god and done away with forever and as we talk to believers some of them who will actually join this world religion and they will think it's a step up they will think it's the true message of the bible we can tell them verse one don't do it this false religion will be judged by god himself it will only have a moment of splendor it will only succeed and and and be wealthy in the eyes of man for a very brief period of time now this harlot is going to make the inhabitants of the earth drunk what's that mean that means uh paragraph b that the inhabitants of the earth are going to see the benefits that this world religion will bring her bring them and they are going to be ecstatic about the benefits they're going to be telling everybody they're going to be intoxicated they're going to be very excited like a drunk man is about this new religion they'll be knocking on your door saying it's growing everywhere it has the blessing of god on it that will be a lie but they won't know it it will be unifying everybody this is an awesome reality the nations of the earth will be drunk on it which means they're going to be really excited about this new religion that's a very bad thing that they're going to be drunk on it you can instead of the word drunk on it you can say they're going to be really happy about it and excited to tell everybody about this religion including you including some of the people that you're ministering to that are true believers and they're going to seduce some of them and draw them away now these are some of the benefits of this great world religion number one humanitarian aid this great world religion will serve the poor will touch the aids victims and will do so many acts of kindness which the is to do but it's tricky because they will do it for a very different reason than jesus tells us to do it we do it to minister the love of god to people they do it so the peat nations of the earth extol and magnify the glory of man and hate god so humanitarian aid you think how could that be wrong well i don't think humanitarian aid is wrong to help the nations of the earth is a good thing but the spirit behind this religion this world religion will be such they will be seducing the nations away from god while while making themselves known as as as those that are committed to compassion causes this world religion is going to unify all the religions of the world and it's it's uh commonly stated how much religion creates war i mean one of the great reasons for terrorism is that some of the radical terrorists say we just want you to join our religion if you were if you were uh muslims we wouldn't blow you up they will if you if you talk to them they will talk about the fact they have religious convictions they have religious convictions that's motivating their terrorism and so the nations of the earth are going to say this is amazing we have a one world religion war will for a short period of time will disappear war will seem to be taken care of and the nations will saying how could anybody be against this religion it's helping the poor it's helping the aids victims in the world etc all the different plagues that are going on and and difficulties it's unifying religion and removing war and then on to top it off it will be the most prosperous religion in history and everybody that's involved with it they will prosper economically economically now this sounds like christianity because when we preach jesus we want to back it up with humanitarian aid we want to bring peace in the nations of the earth and we want to release the blessing of god financially so that there's plenty for everybody and enough to share that's how they will present themselves they will only have one group that's against them the true prophetic church the nations will be drunk they will be ecstatic by her again you see it on on television right now you see some of the the big you know rock stars and concerts and the humanitarian aid and everybody all roads lead to god and we're all the same and the massive crowds applaud and they feed the poor and they want to bring peace to the nations and there's christians with no discernment applauding this they don't know what spirit it is of they don't know the word of god if they don't promote jesus that doesn't mean we stand against them because they're helping people but we're not seduced nor applauding the whole the package of what they're doing because we know the spirit that's behind it and beloved those that expose it will look fanatical because to the earth they will be fanatics but the only group that will expose that will be the true church but remember those that expose those that point out the evil that's behind it remember this false religion will be drunk with the blood of the saints the more they kill the bolder they will be to kill more now the kings of the earth are different the kings of the earth aren't drunk i mean they're not just celebrating her no matter what the kings of the earth are committing fornication with her what does that mean verse i mean uh paragraph c the notes here the political leaders they will know full well that the harlot is deceiving the people of their nation they will know the system is a farce it's a lie it's built on lies but they will say we don't care if it's built on lies and we don't care that it's ultimately going to hurt our nation when the whole thing is played out what we care about is that we're getting money for supporting this harlot so they're going to prostitute themselves by knowingly supporting a system that's built on lies that's injuring their own people but they'll do it for wealth they will participate with her deceptive agenda so they will get economics out of it there will be many evil leaders of the nations they will know the behind the scenes story not all of it but enough of it to know they're selling their people and they're selling themselves for money in order to get an advantage from this harlot system they won't believe in it at all they'll just say we're going to use you they will become harlots with this harlot religion they will prostitute themselves the kings of the earth will do this revelation 18 verse 23 this will not be a small thing because it says in revelation 18 verse 23 not only will this harlot religion have a lot of money and a lot of power in the natural i mean a lot of respect she will also operate in supernatural power it says here by your sorcery all the nations of the earth will be deceived by your sorcery she will really have dark demonic power all demonic powers dark she will operate in dark power and the nations of the world when they they go to her worship concerts they will feel power i hear people say i went to that concert man i it was amazing i wept i felt so much emotion it has to be the holy spirit i felt i mean i was just weeping it was i felt it was i was excited beloved that's a demon spirit moving on you this thing will deceive the nations with real power on it and this false religion will have dynamic music don't think they're going to go to stadiums and have some you know guys stand up saying everybody bow down and worship the false religion it will have music that will be powerful and it will make the nations drunk the people will be so excited about this false religion don't measure the truth of this thing by how drunk the people are or how drunk your friends are with excitement about it because i can tell you right now some of the people you know will be drunk with excitement about it and they will think it's god but it will be sorcery that's seducing them sorcery means demonic power you can read more about that on the notes it's more than demonic power it's drugs and witchcraft and several other things look at revelation chapter 4 verse 7 we get a little bit another picture of her power not only will she have demonic power sorcery she is going to have power in the eyes of men social power and financial power this woman revelation 17 verse 4 was arrayed and purple in other words she will have a royal status around the world people will be so excited they will give so much honor to this world religion she will have a royal status she will be celebrated by the financial the elite financial leaders of the earth they will say this great religion everybody who knows anything knows this religion is the true one now right now it looks ridiculous to us sitting in this auditorium that any religion could get that powerful because the nations of the earth there is no such religion at this point in time the nations are just beginning to be a little bit more open to being unified but it's going to be far more dramatic than it is right now it says in chapter 17 verse 4 the woman will be arrayed in purple she will have a royal status she will be honored by the great leaders of the earth as well as by all the nations of the earth this will be a difficult thing to turn away if you do not have discernment if we have holy spirit discernment we're not going to be seduced by her royal status before the nations not only will she have royal status she will be adorned with gold she will be the wealthiest religious network in the history of the world you know some talk about how wealthy the catholic church is this harlot network will be far wealthier than the catholic churches right now far wealthier than the the muslim nations with the oil this this religion will be adorned with gold that will have so much prosperity and wealth and they will share it with the nations of the earth and that will cause the nations to celebrate this false religion even more it says in verse 4 she will have in her hand a golden cup but don't be tricked by this golden cup the cup is what she's going to serve the nations she's going to serve the nation's humanitarian aid she's going to bring peace to the earth for a short period of time that peace will only be temporary it only lasts a couple years and and it was and then great war will break out the scripture makes clear this golden cup what she offers the nations will appear to be so good and so valuable it will it will appear as a golden cup this this religion will win all the great awards of kindness and greatness and all the awards that man can give she will truly have the golden cup but the angel tells john don't be tricked by this golden cup number one it's filled with abominations that means demonic activity abominations in the old testament spoke directly of idolatry and demonic activity she has demonic activity in her service well how could you say that she's only helping people and blessing the nations and unifying people why are you so paranoid about this religion is what they will say to us we will know that the cup she is offering the cup of service it will be an abomination to god because it will have demonic power and demonic spirits involved all the way through it but this will not be obvious to the casual observer and she will have filthiness her doctrine will promote immorality and moral perversion her doctrine will promote it is okay fornication is okay the the gay lifestyle is okay sex outside of marriage is okay they will promote filthiness in what they offer to the nations of the earth but they will offer it as a golden cup as that which makes the celebrate paragraph j top of page four the prophetic church will expose this harlot and god will allow the pressure that this harlot comes against us i don't mean us is in this little place here i mean there'll be hundreds of millions of believers standing strong and under the power of the holy spirit and god will be honored by our stand uh some will die i would say many will die not most but the numbers will be significant that will die she will be drunk worldwide by killing the saints this will not be a small thing she'll have so much power the leaders of the earth will be celebrating her she'll have more gold than any other institution in the earth and she'll be killing the saints this will not be a small thing beloved this is worth understanding clearly she will be telling the nations all doctrines are good there's the grace of god covers all of our perversions we can stay in them because god made us that way and it will be filled with filth and abomination this cup that this doctrine this message that she proclaims but look at daniel chapter 11 it says though verse 33 those of the people who understand they will instruct many the people who have understanding you will be people of understanding you will instruct many as to what's going on but listen to this but some of those of understanding will fall it doesn't mean they'll fall into sin it means they'll fall into by being martyred but some of the great teachers that are exposing this false system they will be martyred but this will result in refining and purifying and making white many others in the body of christ in other words god is going to allow this pressure to come in to purify the end time church i'm just going to summarize just a couple more points and bring it to an end the harlot's name and i i leave the notes with you to read on your own because again we give the notes so that we don't have to cover all the points here in these classes we want to keep these classes short and right to the point and just an overview of teachings on the end times the so we cover various subjects one by one just a snapshot of of the key themes related to the end times in this uh this course we have 24 different classes in this course so we just take a minute just a short snapshot on each one but i want to encourage you to read the notes and to do deeper study on this here's the interesting thing revelation 17 verse 5 that this world religion will be called babel on the great and what john's going to uh i mean what you'll do you find out as you read the notes and read read more about it from genesis chapter 11 is that this world religion has its roots in what happened in the tower of babel in genesis chapter 11 because the tower of babel was where the city of babylon first was started and in the tower of babel there was a religion the first organized religion in the in history rose up and it was the first rebellion against god and it was filled with demonic power and it brought the judgment of god upon them and when the angel tells john who was very familiar with the old testament he says this world religion her name is babylon in other words john knew that it was traced back to the tower of babel he instantly understood the implications of how important this prophecy was and where this prophecy was going to go in terms of the true nature of this world religion would be full hostility against god and it would be and it would be i have an involvement with demonic spirits in a level that we've never seen in history this religious system will be filled with demons and it will have its roots back at the tower of babel when the first religion and the first great rebellion against god an organized rebellion took place from the human race we're going to end with that i'm going to have the worship team go ahead and come on up i'm going to encourage you again to just read the rest of these notes on your own and take this chapter serious this chapter is very very important because we need to proclaim it with clarity again this class we don't have enough time to go into detail on all the main subjects of end time prophecy but just to barely point at them and then that and then to lead you to study that i mean to encourage you to study it as the holy spirit leads you let's go ahead