In this sermon, the speaker discusses the battle between the forces of good and evil as the end times approach. While the Battle of Armageddon is well-known, the speaker emphasizes that the greater battle is between the kingdom of darkness and God's kingdom. The power of the enemy is said to grow stronger as the return of Christ draws near. The speaker also highlights the importance of believers separating themselves from the world system and avoiding becoming immersed in worldly activities. They warn that continually choosing the spirit of the world over God is akin to taking the mark of the enemy.

The following interview was originally recorded for the Purity for Life radio broadcast. For additional interviews with Steve Gallagher and podcasts of the Purity for Life program, visit our website at purelifeministries.org. Steve, in your book, Intoxicated with Babylon, you talk about the origins of Babylon, and so we want to kind of look at that today. It's really fascinating. I think I certainly didn't have very much insight at all about Babylon and how it came to be. The book of Revelation, of course, talks about a final battle. Let's begin there. Who's involved in that battle, and what's the purpose of that battle? Well, of course, we know about the Battle of Armageddon, where the ungodly will rise up against the Lord. But that really isn't the battle that's important. The greater battle that intensifies as time draws to a near is the battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, if I can put it that simplistically. Basically, the kingdom of darkness grows in strength as the final days approach. And there's a number of different passages of Scripture that kind of infer that or state it. But it seems clear that the power of the enemy will grow as we draw closer to the return of Christ. So, as the enemy grows stronger in this earth, he's basically mustering his forces in an assault against God's kingdom, one final attempt at overthrowing the authority of God. And that's really what the whole point of the Battle of Armageddon, and more importantly, the rising tide of evil preceding it. And that revelation that God gave John, he was shown a city called Babylon. Many people talk about what that represents, what it is, a lot of theories around. Is it meant to represent a geographical place today? Is it a city, maybe San Francisco or New York? Rick Well, different people have tried to tie it into some particular city. And of course, there's many cities that could be used as a representation of, you know, mankind's fall and so on. Or even some people have even tried to say, you know, when Saddam Hussein was still in power, that Baghdad was going to be the new Babylon. You know, well, I don't mean to say it in the wrong way, but it's kind of a superficial perspective. Really, Babylon in Scripture always represents the kingdom of darkness and his attack against God's authority. David In understanding why God chose Babylon to represent that kingdom of darkness, you've said that we need to understand two things. First, the origin of the ancient city and also the spirit that developed there. Talk to us first about the origins for folks who may not know, where did Babylon come from? How did it come to exist? Rick Well, if you remember, after the flood, God told Noah and his sons to be fruitful and multiply and scatter across the earth. And that's what they did. And one of the grandsons of Ham, one of Noah's sons, named Nimrod, ended up in Mesopotamia. And he gathered people around him who did not appreciate the authority of Jehovah. And Nimrod, his name actually means rebel. And Nimrod really was a rebel against the authority of God. And Nimrod was a very violent and domineering man. And he got a following established in Mesopotamia. And they actually started building a tower. And I believe that this whole idea to build this tower was demonically inspired. I think this man was demon possessed. And so they built this tower. And, you know, if you've ever been out on the desert or and I've been out like on Negev and the stars out there are just brilliant, you know, and you get out there where there's absolutely no humidity, there's no lights, and the stars are just so illustrious. And these people lived in that site every night. And I believe that just the strength of that vision you see every night, and especially building a tower up probably a couple hundred feet high or whatever, you know, brought them even closer, better sight of the stars. And so that developed a religion, what has become known to us as astrology. And out of astrology also then started the fertility cults, which I won't go into all that. But those ancient religions began at the Tower of Babel. And it was a definite alternative to serving and worshiping the one true God. So this really was a rebirth of or at least the outward rebirth of what God had destroyed with the flood. Yeah, well, we don't really know exactly what was going on in the antediluvian age of Noah. You know, it seems as though there were some civilizations that had grown very powerfully and evil grew to tremendous lengths during that time to the point that that's all man ever thought about was evil. And so God did finally stamp out mankind. And yeah, so the Tower of Babel was just more of the same that had been there before. Talk to us about the spirit that was developing in Babylon. What kind of spirit was in the heart of man that brought them to the place where they would build this tower? Well, the spirit is rebellion. I mean, that's what the devil is. He is the opposer. And the devil has always tried to get man to worship him instead of God and to follow him instead of God and to serve him instead of God. And so, you know, the spirit that's in Babylon, that's in the ancient city of Babel, it's the same thing, was the alternative to serving and obeying God. So that is what that spirit is. And, you know, we've had different times during the history of mankind where that spirit, for a number of reasons, was able to become more intensified in a civilization or in a culture. And we know that Scripture tells us that as time winds down, that the fruit of wickedness and evil is going to ripen right before Jesus Christ returns. I believe that's what we are seeing on the earth today. You've said a couple of times you've mentioned the enemy. Now, of course, we know that the heart of man is wicked, deceitful above all things. But it sounds like you're saying that the enemy was definitely involved in Babylon and what was going on there, in addition to, or just maybe you can explain, what was the interaction between what was in the heart of man already and what the enemy was doing there? Well, it is true that man's heart is desperately wicked, you know, and it is prone to wander. There's a natural tendency in every human being to be attracted to sin. And the enemy knows that, and so he plays off the desires of the flesh and so on to draw people into his kingdom. And so that's how he used that natural propensity for his own aims and purposes. And so he uses specific people that may be more prone to giving over or have just chosen to give over to the kingdom of darkness. He uses them to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. And Nimrod, I think you mentioned earlier, was one of those men. Yeah, I mean, history has a long line of men such as Nimrod. He was one of the first ones. But yeah, it's always usually the same sort of willingness to give over to evil. Okay, now we move from Babylon to today. What can we learn from Babylon, the Tower of Babel, that whole story, that whole revelation that God gave John? How does that impact us today as Christians in our walk? And how should we be looking at that as we prepare for what you mentioned as we started out today for that final battle that is coming? Well, of course, all of this comes out of my book, Intoxicated with Babylon. And the whole point of that book is that believers are called to be separate from this world system. Let me say it this way. The church, the Greek term church, ecclesia, means separated ones. Saint means sanctified one. You know, and that's what it means to be a true believer in Jesus Christ is there is a separation in your life, a very real separation in your daily life from the world system that is anti-God. And I talk a lot about different ways that the spirit of the world has gotten into the church, how believers have become immersed in the spirit of the world through television, through the internet, just a lot of different worldly activities, living for today, living to please and gratify the flesh, all those kinds of things. That is what the enemy is trying to draw the people of God into, to get them so addicted to the lifestyle that his world system offers them that one day they would rather take a mark than to lose what they have become addicted to in this world. We really are coming to a time, in fact, we are at a time where we've got to choose sides as a Christian. Absolutely. You know, and people who think in terms of, I would never take the mark, I don't care what they did to me, you know, and I mean that's the typical response from Christians. But, you know, when you are saying yes to the enemy every single day in your daily life and saying no to God in a sense, you're already taking the mark, you're already choosing sides. And that's why I'm so strong about this message, because I see people who God is trying to draw to himself who just continually shut God out in favor of the spirit of this world. Amen. Well, we'll have opportunities to talk more about ways that Christians can really evaluate themselves and look at their own lives and determine which side of this war they're in. Amen. Thank you, Steve. Thank you.