In this sermon, the speaker begins by emphasizing the importance of understanding the concept of Babylon. He suggests that Babylon can refer to various things, such as the ancient city in Iraq or a religious and spiritual system. The speaker also mentions the rise of a dominant European market and speculates about the potential arrival of the Antichrist. Additionally, the speaker describes Babylon as a system that has infiltrated various aspects of human existence, including economics and religion, and has tried to compete against God and his gospel. The sermon includes references to biblical verses, such as verse four, which mentions Babylon's wealth and dominance, and highlights the harlot-like and murderous nature of Babylon's passions. The speaker concludes by urging the audience to stay engaged until the end of the sermon, as the topic may be offensive to some.

You've got to pick a portion of Scripture to dive into on this topic, and there's probably none better than Revelation 17. And in Revelation 17, there's 18 verses of that great chapter. And if you're taking notes, mark this down. Revelation 17 speaks about a religious or spiritual Babylon. Revelation 18 speaks about a commercial Babylon. In the last days, they will not be separate from one another. They're going to use one another to their own purposes. And we're going to see just how so. Now listen, I understand that what we're going to be looking at may be very foreign to many of you, if you're not familiar with your Old Testament. The book of Revelation is amazing, because everything mentioned in the book of Revelation is first mentioned in the Old Testament. That's why you need to know your Old Testament to understand that book. Revelation will be an absolute loss for you if you have not read your Old Testament. Revelation 17, verse 1. Then one of the seven angels, John is speaking, who had the seven bulls, came and talked with me, saying, Come and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters and whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. And the inhabitants of the earth were, excuse me, who sits on many waters whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls and having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead was written names, and here are the names. First, mystery, Babylon the great, that's her second title or name. Third, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, John says, that he marveled with great amazement. But the angel said to me, Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was and is and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they see the beast that was and is not and yet is. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. There are also seven kings. Five have fallen. One is and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. The beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth and is the of the seven and is going to perdition. The ten horns which you saw, listen to this church, are ten kings who have received no kingdom as of yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and the authority to the beast. These will make war with the lamb, and the lamb will overcome them, for he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful. Verse 15. Then he said to me, The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. But God has put it in their hearts to fulfill his purposes, to be of one mind and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw, verse 18 says, is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. You say, Jack, what in the world is going on? The symbolism? Absolutely. But it's more than that. First of all, you're John the apostle. Put your yarmulke on and your robe on and your sandals on. You are now old. In fact, you're the only apostle that is going to die of natural means. They've tried to kill John, by the way. Many of you already know about that. Church history tells us that they took John to eradicate him from the earth, to get rid of him. They took John, they heated up a great pot of boiling oil and water and heated it up till it was boiling and took John and threw him in it to kill him. That didn't kill him. So they took him out and they sent him, banished him to the island of Patmos. I've been to that island and it's quite a banishment. It is a rock in the middle of the Mediterranean. They left him there to die and to work the mines until they worked him to death under Roman imprisonment. But the Roman Empire began to lose its grip in some areas and John was taken from Patmos and he was brought back to Ephesus and he died of old age there. Timothy was a pastor of that church there. John was a pastor of that church there. By the way, it's where Mary died and there's a place mentioned there in Ephesus. John is now writing, given this great vision, keeping this in mind by way of background, yet the future. There are things mentioned to John that are very familiar to him, things that he knows. There are things that are mentioned to John that are futuristic. There are things mentioned to John that though it's symbolism to us and to John, it's explained. John marvels, but he doesn't marvel in the way that you would think. Maybe you and I would marvel over the horns and over the this or the that of the vision. John literally marvels over something that catches him off guard to the point where it could have almost taken the wind out of him. He's marveling at the fact that this woman has become or is what she is. What is this thing? This mystery? Babylon the Great? The mother of harlots? He's completely befuddled as to what it's become. How can these things be? And so listen, this morning church, because of that, we're going to have a great deal of introduction and then we'll end this message with many points quickly. There's no sense for me to give you the points because it won't explain anything. Let me first give the background. It's very important. First of all, mark it down if you're taking notes. When we talk about Babylon, just what in the world are we speaking about? How broad and vast is it? Do we talk about Iraq today, Babylon, ancient Babylon? Is it Iraq? Could be. Do we talk about a religious system, a spiritual base? Could be. Could we talk about a political dynamic or an economic dynamic? It could be. What we are talking about is something that is so ancient, something that has so infiltrated the world, in economics, in religion, in all areas of human existence, that in a sense it has tried to compete against God in His gospel and His word from the very beginning. It is in a sense something that runs parallel to the truth of God. It's very dangerous. Now I'm going to encourage the ushers to just lock the door and don't even try to leave until you get to the end of the story, okay? Because there's something I think in here to offend everybody. So just hang on. Number one is this. First of all, the name Babylon appears 290 times in the Bible, second only to Jerusalem, Babylon. Secondly, all cults and occultic practices and beliefs come out from and can be traced back to ancient Babylon and the Babylonian worship system. Thirdly, the Bible teaches that the name or term Babylon will make a great comeback on the world scene prior to, this is critical, prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ when He comes to establish His kingdom. And fourthly, in the last 2,000 years, the ancient Babylonian worship system that dates back thousands and thousands of years ago is clearly being resurrected and has been on an increasingly dramatic scale over the last 2,000 years and some say never more powerfully in the last 2,000 years than the last 500 years. And we're going to look as to see why. Mark it down by way of beginning. First thing to consider as we look at is Genesis chapter 10. What is mystery Babylon? Great, the mother of harlots. The answer to the question begins in Genesis chapter 10, verses 8 through 10, where there it is listed that Cush begat Nimrod and he began to be a mighty one on the earth. It says that Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord God, therefore it is said, and it's in quotes, like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord, and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel. The tower of Babel. The gateway to God. The wording of that, Bab-el, is gateway to God or gateway to heaven. Who is this guy Nimrod? Why does the Bible stop in its genealogy to tell us that something's different about this guy Nimrod? That number one, he's a mighty hunter before the Lord. Who cares? What do we care about that for? Unless it means something different than what we see on the surface. Why is Nimrod centered out as one who's a really good hunter? That he could shoot a duck in mid-flight. Who cares? He was known as an archer. So what? Many ancient Hebrew scholars believe that what the meaning is when it says that he was a hunter before the Lord is that he's a hunter in competition with the Lord. That he's one who builds a tower of Bab-el to get to the top, as some have declared, to shoot God out of heaven above, that he might be one who would rule the earth. That Nimrod had an aspiration to rule the world, to establish a kingdom. And so he builds this great, great tower. And what does the Bible say? The Lord says, let us go down and let's visit. And what is the judgment? That God sends that project great confusion by language being given in that moment. It seems as though, according to God, that when language is working so perfectly like that, instead of us using it for good, we wind up using it for evil. And he sends all the languages, and they began to be dispersed throughout all the world as they went to the different locations of the world from the very cradle... Cradle! I must be hungry. I'm thinking about a griddle and then cradle. From the cradle of civilization, the people flee. Nimrod. What about Nimrod? To know more about Nimrod, we need to get into things that surround his existence. Things that are outside of the Bible. The Babylonian worship system. What went on there? Why did it ever start in the first place? What was that all about? Nimrod is synonymous with being a bad guy. Ancient scholars also view him as an anti-God person. We would say today in Christianity, in the New Testament, that he's an anti-Christ type. That he could very well be a picture or a forerunner of the coming anti-Christ that's yet to come. But what's with this Babylonian system? It's interesting to note, keeping this in mind, that the very Bab-El, gateway to God, in its very name, has a threatening connotation to it. But Nimrod, he had a wife. And his wife's name was Semiramis. And you can read about her in libraries all around the world. And you may be more familiar with Semiramis. She goes by different names and by icons and idols that are quite challenging to us. Semiramis. Nimrod and Semiramis, they had a son. And his name was Tammuz. And Tammuz is an interesting guy. Somewhere they tell us in Babylonian antiquity that he was somewhere around the age of 30. Interesting, huh? Age. He was somewhere around the age of 30 when he was out hunting in the footsteps of his father as a hunter. And that he was gored to death by a wild boar. And he was laid to rest in Semiramis, according to ancient Babylonianism. You say, Jack, I don't care about that. Well, you will care in a moment. In ancient Babylonianism, she so lamented the death of her son that she began to pray to the gods that the ancient Babylonian system believed in. All of these various gods that in our culture today have new names, by the way. She cries out to the gods of the underworld. She cries out to the gods of nature. The gods of the ocean. The gods of trees. She cries out to the gods of the heavens. She cries out in all of these incredible lamentations unto these underworld gods. And listen to this. I'm making it very short for you. In fact, hold that screen right there, would you? In all of her lamentation, weeping that she could have her son back. According to Babylonianism, those gods were so impressed with her intercession that they heeded her cry and they submitted to her request. And she got, again, this is according to Babylonianism, she got her son back. He was resurrected from the dead. Anybody remember how long her lamentation was to get that boy back? 40 days. The word used today for her lamentation, by the way, of 40 days of lamentation of Semiramis. This is going back nearly 5,000 years ago, was a lamentation that is now today observed and called Lent. It is the lamentation of Semiramis. She interceded and got her son back. And this is dating back some nearly 5,000 years ago. Sound a little familiar? Listen. This is very, very critical. Because of her achievement, a priesthood was established encompassing all of the various gods that the ancient Babylonians worshipped. She became the chief intercessor over all the other gods. And she had a priesthood. She had both a male priesthood and a female priesthood under her leadership. And her son was worshipped as a godlike son. And there are archaeological discoveries in antiquity around the world, even in areas of China that have unearthed images of a woman holding a child that predates the Catholic Church by about 1,300 years. You and I, when we think of a statue of what we would say Mary holding a child, you automatically think that it's Mary and baby Jesus. The Catholic Church has put that label upon that statue. I want you to know, before the Catholic Church ever existed, that statue existed. You've got to stop... Look, you may say, I don't like you, Pastor. That's not the point. You've got to stop before you run out of the building and ask yourself, why is that true? Just ask yourself, why is that? That's interesting. What is that? What a coincidence. No, no, no, listen carefully. Her lamentation, so impressive. Her priests were granted the power to intercede on behalf of others. It was a hierarchy that was established so much so that the Roman Empire practiced it and adopted it under the worship of the great emperors of Rome. The worship of the emperors are what is called as emperor worship. In fact, listen, one of the names, as you shall hear in a moment, one of the names that Semiramis goes by is Eshtar. By the way, you can go to the Museum of History in London, but the best one of all is in Berlin, Germany. You'll hear more about that in a moment. In Berlin, Germany, there's the Eshtar Gate that came out of Babylon out of Iraq today. It is beautiful. And that Eshtar Gate, you say, Eshtar, what's with Eshtar? Listen to this. It's in your Bible. It's in Acts chapter 12, verse 4. And when Herod had apprehended Peter, he put him in prison and delivered him to the four quarters of the guards to keep him, intending that after Eshtar to bring him forth to the people. Eshtar is our modern day wording of the word, what? Easter. You know, with the bunnies and the eggs. You know how old the bunnies and the eggs go back? 5,000 years ago. Why? After the lamentation and Semiramis got her boy back, they had an absolute drop crazy dead party and they went nuts on each other and grand orgies and all this stuff about the Easter egg. The Easter egg. They took an Easter egg. You would take. I mean, you wouldn't. I wouldn't. Somebody else would. They would take an Easter egg, Eshtar egg, and they would place it at the door of the house of a virgin. And she would come out of that house and when she came out of that house, she was commanded, she had to pick up that egg. And if it was your egg, you got to go be with that girl. And the whole thing about the bunnies and all of that stuff goes back to ancient Babylonians about sexual practices and fertility rights. Interesting. Bizarre. Strange. For sure. Revelation 2, verse 15. Revelation 2, 15. Jesus speaks about that type of priesthood that made it into the Roman Empire. It's ancient. God knew that. In Revelation 2, 15, Jesus said to the church at Pergamos, Jesus says to them, thus you have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Nicolaitans. Nicolords of laity. People. Lords over the people. Where do the Nicolaitans come from? The ancient practices of Babylonianism. The rule over people rather than people being able to go directly to God. They said, oh no, no, no. You go to us and we'll tell you what God's all about. That happens in cultures all around the world. And this ancient Babylonian worship system began to propagate throughout the world. Very, very interesting. And powerful. And so the worship and the intrigue of Semiramis and Temus grew on and developed more and made its way to the world. Jesus will make mention of it in further references in our study this morning. My friend, predating what you might think is of a Roman Catholic belief or some other belief system, I want you to realize everything spiritual either goes back to Yahweh God of the Bible in truth, or it goes back to the ancient Babylonian system. The ancient Babylonian system has all kinds of freakish inroads into the lives of people taking on and assimilating all kinds of manifestations and appearances in cults, in religions, in doctrines, in beliefs, in worldviews, in astrology. Strange things all linking back to what was practiced in ancient Babylon. Now, this morning, we've got some things to show you. And I haven't been looking at the screens. I may have missed them. We have some images of icons and things like that coming up next. Do we have it? Do you? Not sure? Maybe not. But most people are assuming. This is an interesting building. This is in Jerusalem of all things. And I took that picture from the street. You see right here, everybody? Can you see that? This is a huge statue. It's about 25 feet high, by the way. And there's a closer one of that, which we saw earlier. Notice it's the 12 stars. You and I would say, gosh, you know, standing in Israel, it would be Israel and 12 stars referred to in scripture as the 12 stars of Jacob, of the tribes of Israel. No problem there, right? The only thing is, this very image appears around the world in other cultures. If we have more slides, go for it, because I'm not sure what exactly you've got over there now. So, look at this ancient, ancient artifact of a woman holding a child. And I believe this is the one that came out of China, predating the Catholic Church. What is this all about? You say, well, it's just a mom holding a child. Well, I would say, OK, but keep going, you guys. Next slide, if we have one. Look at. OK, this is very obvious. It's like, OK, but the whole concept predates the Catholic Church. Semiramis and Temus. This is amazing. This is nearly, what is it, 4,800 years old, this image. You have this Egyptian mother. She's about ready to nurse this child. And you might say, well, that's normal. I mean, mommies nurse their babies. This is a god in Egypt. This is worshipped in Egypt with the sun over the horns or the crest here. This is an ancient Egyptian idol. Very important. Keep going, you guys. I don't know if we have more or not. I'm not sure what we have. Well, that's kind of obvious. There you have a woman riding a beast there. But let's advance to this, you guys. In a moment, I'm going to show you something that's very, very interesting. Babylon is labeled in the Bible as a whore. And this doesn't mean that she was a bad girl that got around. When the Bible speaks about this, this is spiritual context. The Bible makes it clear that when we worship something other than the Lord, it is spiritual harlotry. Idolatry is spiritual fornication or idolatry, adultery, spiritually. Being involved in something you ought not to be involved in. There's four things I want you to consider as we go through this, that whoever and whatever Babylon is, the mystery Babylon, is this, that she's easily accessible to the world. All roads would lead to her. She's easy. Thus the Bible says she's a whore. She's a harlot. Number two, she's deceptive. She takes on the cultures in which she goes into. We know this to be a fact as you study history. Babylonianism, when it came into the various cultures of the world and empires, it kept enough of its foundation, but acquiesced to its culture. Rome adopted it. And even still today, where it goes, it blends in enough with its culture. If it's Oriental, or if it's European, or if it's Western, it just blends in. And then also this, it's not only accessible and deceptive, but it's polluting. She is spiritually polluted. Her doctrines lead to hell itself, the Bible warns us, over and over again. If ancient Babylon is going to make its way back into the times in which you and I live in, just before the second coming of Christ, then that means it is on a march. It is on its way. And what does it look like? It's going to be something that offers you spiritually a polluted message. And this, are you guys listening? This is so terrifying if you don't have the Bible hidden in your heart. Because somebody can come on a stage, a platform, a pulpit, and be really cool, and dazzle you with this or that, and give what you might think is the gospel, if you don't know what the gospel is. They might mention Jesus, God, and Heaven. But they will leave out things like repent of your sins and be converted. It is a Christless message that will make its way out. It will be a crossless message. It will be something other than. It will be a road that leads to spirituality that costs you nothing. Now I'm not saying you have to earn your way to Heaven. That's impossible. But you don't have to give anything up. It's a gospel that you just staple on or put your membership card in your wallet just like anything else in life, like Walmart or Costco or whatever. It's just an add-on. It's a simple thing that's all-encompassing. People will ask things like do you believe in God? I believe in God. Oh, we all believe in God. Isn't that great to believe in God? God who? God what? The Bible warns us that there's even other gospels and other Jesuses that are preached out there when people knock on your door. If you take the time to research their creation, their message, where they came from, their leaders, leader, leader, leader came from, you will eventually get back to the founding of all cult and occultic practices in Babylon. And she's of that. And she will be the personification of it in the last days. And then she's dangerous. She's spiritually dangerous. The souls that she tampers with leads people into eternity. To say to you just enough to appease you but not to get you to go any further. Not to find out. Not to know. For example, the Bible says listen, these things have been written that you might know you have eternal life. That's the Bible. Do you know that you have eternal life? Well, I don't know. Maybe. What? You are to know. Who says? The Bible says you are to know. Well, I'll know after I die. After you die? It's too late after you die. The Bible says these things are written that you might know that you have eternal life. That's before you die. There's no second chance. That was invented. There's no another opportunity to hear the Bible. That's invented. This is a very critical thing. So the Bible speaks about and antiquity speaks about a woman of great prominence. Here in your Bible speaks about a woman riding a beast. This is 2,000 years old. And in association with world rule. Now look at this. This is amazing. You say, well, you know, a lot of you are from Chino. You recognize exactly what that is. That's a lot of bull right there. But what's interesting about this? This is a woman. She got all the nations of the world right here. Or of Europe. I'm sorry. All the nations of Europe. Here's the European Union flag. Isn't that funny? It's just like our our first flag. America. Remember we had the circle. Thirteen. They got 12. We had more one more than they did. This is the European Union flag. Next slide. I love this picture. I took it all by myself. This is out in front of a pharmacy. It's just on one of the old buildings in Germany. Twelve stars. Look at the ocean. See that word right here? That's Zeus. And this is Europa. She's naked, but she's got scarlet robes on. Do you see her? See this big bull right there? This is normal thinking in the European mind. This is this is called Greek mythology. Listen, Greek mythology. You need to find out where the Greeks got it from. They I don't tell them. The Europeans tell me and I have this in print that this is Zeus or Jupiter. Goes by the same name. It's the same guy taking Europa captive across the seas of the world signifying world dominance that it's Zeus's desire to take her around the world to conquer the world to rule the world. This is what this is what Europeans know. It's in their ancient history. But it's mythology. It's not. It's just a myth. Come on. Next slide. If it's such a myth. Here's the European euro 19. This is the ECU. This is 1996. This is a five dollar euro. Here's see the ocean. See the beast. Multiple horns. See this woman. She's naked. She's wearing robes. See what's with that. OK. You got to stop right there. I didn't make this up. This is not like Photoshop or something here. This is real. This is your Bible. You guys. This is your Bible. Say that. Watch out. A woman's going to come riding the beast. OK. And does it not talk about waters? The waters that she rides are nations. Hello. Now, come on. Are you guys. You're so quiet. Are you with me here? You say you made up that. You made that picture up. I didn't make it up. This is what it looks like. This is a Greek euro. This is in circulation right now. I got a couple in my office. That's where we take the picture. This is a Greek euro. See the woman. I mean, see the beast. See the naked lady with the scarlet robes on her. Well, I mean, there's supposed to be. Bible says they're purple and red. See that. Europa. This is Zeus. OK. And she's holding a goblet. She's holding a goblet. Next slide. This is that Greek coin. Here's the. Here's the European Union. Part of it. And there she is again. Next slide. This is just an ancient, ancient Roman coin. But you see that the thought process of an animal being on there. Although this is a lion with an eagle's head. I believe kind of hard to make out. Next one. Again, keep going. Oh, this is great. Here's that five dollar euro. There's the flip side of it. Backside. And these are two stamps from Europe. First of all, this is Poseidon. We have pictures of this, by the way, this image right here. We don't have them right now, but we I've got them in my my library when we went to a Minoan temple, one of the infected. It's at the same existence, same time as King David in Israel. A Minoan temple in Greece with paintings of Poseidon, Zeus and Europa all around the walls. Listen, Europa all around the walls in the time of David. This is a woman who's kind of naked, but kind of veiled in clothing at the same time. She's got robes and she's got a son or a child in her right hand. She's hanging on to the the head of the beast and see the ocean, Poseidon, the god of the seas underneath her. This is another stamp. It is a bridge around the world over the seas. And what does it say? Europe, Europa. This is the concept in the mind thing. He said, where are you going with this? Well, hang on. There is a day coming when Europe will be resurrected to this thinking that's not so foreign to them, that there will be a time. And what I'm suggesting to you this morning is this, that the Babylonian system is much broader than pointing the finger at a group or at a church or at a this or a that. What's dangerous if you don't know what's coming, you could fall into one of these things. You are going to see the rise of Europe, the European Union, become a world-dominating economic power. It already has a gross national product greater than the United States. You see, Jack, are you not aware that they have great many financial problems? In fact, look at the inflation rate in Germany, the unemployment in Germany. France has just fallen apart. I understand that. Hello, it's probably going to get worse there before it gets better because it needs an answer. Antichrist. The book of Daniel tells us this guy is going to come in and deceive many with prosperity and peace. What's Europe crying for at this hour based upon the Middle East crisis? Peace. Now, peace. Is this world not crying out for peace? The Bible says there's not going to be any peace. Listen, we often say there won't be any peace until the Prince of Peace comes. That's true ultimately. There will be a pseudo mock peace that's brought by the Antichrist. It would be a three and a half year time of deceptive peace. You're going to see a rise of Europe. Let me ask you, is Europe rising? Oh, yeah. Are they unified? Yeah. Do they have a currency? Yes. I predict it's not going to last long as a tangible currency. I predict, like I know what I'm talking about. I'm sneaking this from the Bible. Revelation 13. They're going to go electronic. You're going to have a mark or a chip in your hand. I mean, you better not. Nobody at this church better not. But those days are coming. You've got a spiritual entity called Babylon, the harlot. You've got something rising spiritually that is going to deceive the world that is ancient. And yet John says it's in the future and it completely freaked him out. John is telling us if we read carefully that this wicked thing of the past is going to infiltrate and become a church. A church. It is going to become a church system that will look to the world and say, do you wear this when you worship? That's good with us. Do you pray to what? That's good with us. You believe in what? That's good with us. As long as we are united and as long as we are tolerant, it's good with us. And that's what's going to happen. And somehow this system in connection with the rise of Europe and its economic prowess is they're going to make together. You've got the woman who represents a false church riding on the back of an economic political engine. The beast called the Antichrist. He is going to command it. Those of you who take notes, jot this down. Many of you have Calvary Chapel. You already know this. This is fun stuff. I want you to go and research the W.E.U. It's not like some wrestling league. It's Western European Union. You're going to go to their government website. It's not a Christian site. It is a European government website. W.E.U. It is preeminent and presides over the E.U. The W.E.U. was founded first. The E.U. came out of it. There are something like 25 or so members of the European Union right now. And it fluctuates. That's not important, honestly. What is important is what you're going to read on the W.E.U.'s website. That they are... I kid you not. Are you ready? They are 10 leaders, it says, of 10 countries of Europe out of the European Union which hold the governing powers, the drafting powers of documents, and they have a leader. Now, I don't know who this guy is in the future, but right now he's Javier Solano. He's the guy that's head over both, and he's their military leader. I'm not saying he's the Antichrist. What I am saying is there's going to be a guy like that. And isn't it interesting it's the number 10. There's 10 of them. The W.E.U. Look at it later. We are seeing precursors to the 10 horns. What does the Bible talk about 10 horns? Horns in the Scripture are always kings. And then he goes on to tell you the 10 horns that you saw are 10 kings that will rise. Rise out of what? The ancient European or Roman Empire. It's very clear in the Scripture. No one's ever conquered the Roman Empire. It's the only empire that didn't get conquered. Theoretically, it's still in existence today. Did you know that? It was never beaten. It just fell apart. That's interesting. And so, we've got two things growing side by side. Now, change gears for a moment. I raised all this stuff about Semiramis. I raised all this stuff about Tammuz. And the weirdness of that. What is all that? Babylonianism. Okay? Where is that in the Bible? Get it? Ready. Jeremiah 44, beginning at verse 15. Jeremiah 44, 15. While you're turning there, by the way, every time Israel backslid away from the Lord, they backslid into idolatry. And they were very guilty for doing nasty things. You've read your Bible where they sacrifice children in the arms of Moloch or Rimfan. Remember Dagon? I love that. Remember when they brought the ark in? They captured the ark. Israel's enemies, they brought in the ark and they put the ark before Dagon, this freaky looking thing. It's part fish with arms on it. It's kind of like a man with a fish head. And it's standing there and they're going, Oh, Dagon rocks. Dagon's great. He's the best. We love Dagon. Yes, we do. We love Dagon. How about you? And they bring the ark in and they set the ark of the Lord before and they close the warehouse door and they go home. And the next time they come back in the morning and Dagon has fallen down in front of the ark. And you could just see the janitor. Oh, that's really weird. Pluck that thing back up. And he goes back and the next day he comes back and the idol has fallen down again in front of the ark of the Lord and its hands and its head are broken off. And they know they've got trouble. Something's going on here. This is like an X-file happening here. That image was a man-like creature with a fish head with his mouth like this, open. When you look at the priest, the artifacts that have been unearthed of the priest and their gowns and their robes, the priest of Dagon in Babylonian worship, thousands and thousands and thousands of years ago. Guess what? They normally wore red or purple, but not always. Alexander Hislop points out that they could wear green robes. They had fish scale robes. The robes look like scales on a fish because they worship. In fact, that was the worship system going on in Nineveh when a prophet showed up who came out of a what? Fish. Jonah shows up and says, you guys, you are going to fry. You guys are going to die. He didn't even give them any hope. Forty days and Nineveh perishes. How many days? Forty. What did they do when they heard the news? Let's intercede and pray the call for the king of Nineveh. Wonder what he was thinking about. Maybe in the tradition of Semiramis and her lamentation based upon his culture and based upon his worship. Jonah could care less. And I mean, I mean care less. He shows up 40 days. Nineveh perishes. He hated him. Get a revelation study to find out or the Jonah study to find out why is amazing. He goes up and sits down to watch it to blow up. They're crying. They're crying. But you know what? Why did they listen to him? He's a Jew. Nineveh ate Jews alive. Because you know what? It wasn't that he was a Jew. And it certainly wasn't as a great message of hope. You know what it was? It was that he came out of a fish. They believe that the message came from God. Because the priests of Dagon, they wore green scale like robes with a fish hat on that looks like the face of a or the head of a fish. Ancient artifacts reveal this to be so predating the Catholic Church. Have you ever seen the miter hat? It's the shape of a fish hat when you turn sideways. It's the ancient exact replica of the hats of Dagon. Did you get that? Doggone it. Did you get it? Go look this stuff up. You're looking at me like, no way. Hey, my job's on the line here. I got to be accurate. Okay, listen. And cultures, this worship, the Assyrian Empire, they named Semiramis and Temus different names. Ishtar, Temus, watch this, and Phoenicia, Ashtarte, and Baal. Does that ring a bell? You ever hear that before? By the way, did you hear Baal in the news this week when there was a missile attack at Baal back? Did anybody get that? B-A-A-L-B-E-K. It was in the news this week. Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun. Interesting. Oh, by the way, when you see Hezbollah, it's not Hezbollah. It's Hezba Allah. Look at it. Look at the proper spelling of it. It's not B-O-L-L-A-H. It's B-A-L-L-A-H. Allah. There's a reason for that. God's army. I was on a phone call this morning before service. And as I told you earlier, Israel understands that Allah's war has just begun. That's what the enemy of Israel is saying. This is just the beginning. We're not backing off. We're not stopping. This is our time. And then, you know what? They think it's their time. They've got 9-11. They've got all this stuff behind them. The world is terrified. The momentum is on their side. It's amazing. Egypt called Semiramis and Temus Isis and Horus. Greece called them Aphrodite, that's Semiramis, and Eros. Now, from here on, you've got to be careful with researching it because it gets kinky weird. It gets Jerry Springer weird when you study this. Because you've got Semiramis having sex with her son, and then the things that come out from that will make you sick. And you don't even want to find out what Semiramis wound up doing to Nimrod regarding fertility. Now that I've said that, you'll probably go read it. But Rome called her Venus, that's Semiramis to the Romans, and Cupid was Temus. Now listen, you say, what is this? Jeremiah 44, beginning at verse 15, Then all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to the idols, a great crowd of all of them, Judeans living in Pathros, in the southern region of Egypt, answered Jeremiah and said, Jeremiah 44, 16, We will not listen to your message from the Lord. We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the queen, what's it say? The queen of heaven. This is thousands of years before the Catholic Church. The queen of heaven. We will burn incense to, listen to what she says, and sacrifice to her just as much as we would like, just as we and our ancestors before us have done, and as our kings and priests have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For in those days, listen, this is the reason why they worship. For in those days, we had plenty to eat, and we were well off, and we had no troubles. Man, we worship this pagan system of the Babylonians, and everything was great with us. You see what the criteria was? Forget truth. We've got money. We've got health. We've got all this stuff. Everything's great. We're going to worship this system because of what it gives us, not if it's true or not. The queen of heaven, that very term predates anyone that you ever talk to about the queen of heaven, saying, oh, queen of heaven this, queen of heaven that. By the way, did I ever tell you this? Get a book by Roger Oakland right away. It's called The Queen of All. It's documented. Data. Research it. You're going to wig out. You're going to love it. The queen of all. The queen of heaven is the queen of all. Who is she? It's not Mary. The statue's not Jesus. It goes way back. It's an infiltration that makes its way around truth and then strangles truth like a snake. And this is critical. Now, what about Tammuz? Ezekiel 8, her son. Ezekiel 8, beginning at verse 12. The Lord spoken to me, saying, Ezekiel, son of man, you have seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in secret, in darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol. They say the Lord does not see. The Lord has forsaken the land. Again, he said, I will see them and their doings that are even more detestable. Verse 14. Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord. This is in Jerusalem. During Ezekiel's day. And I saw women sitting there mourning for who? Tammuz. They were in worship crying out to Tammuz. He had been dead a millennia earlier. If that worship system invaded the very nation of Israel and its worship system, is it not able to invade our worship system today? I suggest it not only has, but it will more. And if you don't know the Bible, you're going to get knocked right off your feet. You're going to follow its new dressing, its new look. Let's see the slides. Do you have the slides of the temple of Zeus? By any chance, I may have passed that up on you guys. I'm driving them crazy because I'm not sticking true to my notes here. You guys, can you see this with me? See this word Pergamon, see that Pergamon museum. This is in Berlin, Germany. This is a very touchy issue right now because Turkey wants everything inside that museum back. The Germans took it. Germans are not going to give it back. Let's go on in. This is the temple of Zeus or Jupiter. It's massive. This is the entrance. And once inside, it's absolutely... If you have any travel plans or vacation plans, you're going through Berlin, Germany, you don't even go there without seeing this. Next slide. This is a model of what you will see and what you will go up. This is a model of the steps leading up to the temple of Zeus where they made sacrifices. In fact, keep this slide. Do you see this right here, you guys? Hey, are you guys with me? I need help here. Okay, you see this? This is a model. There's the real deal right up there. These images right here, they're about 15 to 18 feet high. It's huge. Next slide. This is a model. The real stuff's back there. It's just so grand, I couldn't get it all in the camera. Next slide. This is the real deal. This is a massive structure. You go up the stairs right here. These are the gods that you would say, oh, Greek mythology. They're all named underneath. Poseidon is here. Athena. You know your tennis shoes? Nike. Nike, the god is there. They're all there. All of them. Listen, in this grand cosmic spiritual battle, the only thing is it's of the underworld. And it tells you all about that when you're there. All ascending up. They're all trying to make their way up to be crowned by the queen of heaven. The temple of Zeus or Jupiter. Next slide, if we have one. These are huge structures that were brought over and then replaced back together. Some of them are still being placed. You can see those blank spots. Incredible detail. Next. That's it. Amazing stuff. What's that all about? They even have references there in the book of Revelation to the church at Pergamos that Jesus spoke to. Warning them. It's absolutely amazing. Nothing's new, as we said under the sun. Very quickly. What is Mystery Babylon the Great? Obviously is a satanic system. Revelation chapter 17 tells us of spiritual deception. She's got all kinds of evil and twisted doctrines. She's a beast. Riding upon a beast, for sure. A few things and we'll be done. Now we go quickly. What is Mystery Babylon the Great? Number one, it's a system having global powers. Will you jot that down? It is going to be a system that is religious, but will have global powers. How so? Well, first of all, she's a woman. She's an imposter church. The Church of Jesus is called the Bride of Christ. A woman, isn't it? She is an imposter. That's why John freaked out. He was amazed that he saw this thing. What is that? He both knew something about it, but he was absolutely amazed by it. It has grown into a freakish looking thing that ensconces the earth. She's a woman. It says in verse 18 that that woman that you saw is that great city. What do I mean by that? Jot it down if you would. I believe that part of this grand Babylonian deception in the last days will be, number one, it says here, the woman resides or is a city. I believe it's Rome. I'm going to tell you why. It says it rules over the kings of the earth. The word in the Greek is presently. Presently from when? When was John given the vision? Back then in the late 90s A.D. Rome was ruling over the world. John understood that. Wow, Rome rules the world. It says right here. This woman sits there. This woman is a city. And it rules the world. John would have understood that fine. You say, well, that's kind of shallow. Well, it gets better. Look at verse nine. Look at her location. Mystery Babylon. Who is she? Look at her location. Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Vatican City in Rome sits upon Aventine, Caelian, Capitoline, Palatine, Escholine, Quarinole, and Viminole. Seven hills that are famous. World-renowned. You've got to find a city that's existing at the time of John that will have end-time powers as well. It has to be something that adopts ancient Babylonianism. It has to be a city that meets certain criteria that John knew about and understood. It had to be a city that ruled the world at his time while he was alive. Her location is key. Her attire. She's a Nordstrom's kind of girl. Look at her. Verse four. The woman was arrayed in purple scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. The priesthood that came out of her corrupted the world. She's very, very, though, dressed in opulence. Allow me to put it this way. She has been wined and dined by the political powers of the world being led by the Antichrist in what will be the resurrected Roman Empire that once existed. Keep your eye on the ancient Roman Empire of Europe. Keep your eye on the rise of a spiritual leadership coming out of the city of Rome. The seven hills and a power at the time of John. Her attire speaks of great, great powers as well. The verse 15 of Revelation 17 is her influence. She's going to have tremendous global influence. Then he said to me, the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are people's multitudes, nations and tongues. You saw the images of Europa riding upon that beast over the oceans. These are the nations of the world. And that's exactly what Europe understands that ancient Greek image to represent. There'll be a global ecumenical gathering. Number two in our study. What is Mystery Babylon the Great? It's a system having grand position. A grand position. How so? Look at verse three. She will be granted swift access to the world. So he carried me away. That is, the Lord carried John away into the spirit to see in the wilderness. And here's what he sees. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemies, having seven heads and ten horns. She's going to have access to the world by virtue of her partner, the Antichrist and that government. It will be a state-promoted, agreed-upon worship system, church imposter of the truth. Keep going. She will have a grand position in that she will dominate world religions. She has, as she rides upon the beast, a name from the beast which is full of names of blasphemy. These are names that defame God. Names that put down God, the God of the Bible. And yet she will be religious and the world will flock to her. She'll have this tremendous religious domination. Point number three. What is Mystery Babylon the Great? What is it? It's a system having glorious prosperity. By the way, the book of Daniel warns us, and I think it's Daniel chapter 11, that when the Antichrist comes, he's going to deceive the world by riches and by peace. She has unlimited wealth. Look at verse 4 of chapter 17. The woman was arrayed in purple scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She's going to utilize the economy of a rising Europe. And then that leads us to this consideration here. If you think of verse 4, you'll see a dominant European market rising, as we mentioned a moment ago. You'll see that happening. By the way, you look at the world right now and all that's going on. Isn't this a great time for the Antichrist to show up? I'll calm down the Muslim world. I'll give the Jews promises and peace. In fact, you guys, I'll give you this, and I'll give you half of Jerusalem. If you let Israel rebuild the temple there at the Temple Mount, all this stuff's going to come to pass at some point in time. We also know in verse 4 that her wealth will elevate her status. She has this golden cup of rule, of dominance, of power. Fourthly, it's a system having gross passions. Note this. She is a great spiritual harlot in this. Her passions are murderous. And since she has a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication, look what it leads to. She is just so flamboyant and so out there and so brazen, so spiritually disgusting, that Revelation 17-2 leads us to this consideration. She is unholy before God, for it says, with whom the kings of the earth, the word is political leaders of the world, have joined with her, and she has made them drunk with her fornication. You guys, there's going to be a time when political powers will gather together to her and with her. That's coming. I know it sounds crazy, but it's coming. She's indulgent, verse 5. She is mystery. She is Babylon the Great. She's the mother of harlots. The scary thing about mothers is that they have babies. That's how you become a mother. Who are her kids? You don't want to know them. Finally, we end here. Mystery, Babylon, what is it? It's a system given to persecutions. It will sanction persecutions. In Revelation 17, verses 6 and 7, it says that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints. The Tribulation Saints Church, listen, not only historically, but yet in the future, this system that's coming will be the key role player of killing believers during the Tribulation period. I'm going to give you one guess. How do you think, under the direction of the Antichrist, will this religious system implement a murderous act of those who love Jesus? How do they die? The Bible makes it very clear. How are they stopped? I want to hear it again. Beheading, says the Bible. Not electrocution. Not lethal injection. The Bible says, yet in the future, those who don't submit to the Antichrist and his rule will be beheaded. Up until a few years ago, we would have thought beheading was something out of the ancient, barbaric, ignorant world. It is. But it's back. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that amazing? She's going to be given to persecutions. By the way, historically, she always has. That's a warning to us. It is a warning to us. And so with that, church, we end with this. I want to leave this before your mind. In just a few brief moments together, I cannot in any way decent present to you what possibly would be the culmination of Mystery Babylon the Great. I can just simply warn you this. It is a system that has been around since the very beginning. It hasn't gone away. It infiltrates truth. Wherever the truth is, it generates a counterfeit. And I want to challenge you, Christian. When you worship, be careful. Do you need things to get you into worship? Do you have to be primed and pumped to worship your God? When you pray and when you cry out and when you ask God for direction or for forgiveness, is there a priest or a pastor, an evangelist or anyone else? Is there a Billy Graham or someone? Is there a Chuck Smith or a Jack or a Charles Stanley or a John Paul or whoever that says, you come to me and I'll represent you before God. The Bible says there's one mediator before man and God and that is the man Christ Jesus. Listen, the Bible makes it very clear. The book of Hebrews warns over and over again, there's a coming system that is going to try to get between you and God. And it could be legalism today. It could be that you, in a vicarious manner, you're trying to have your righteousness lived out by the deeds of your missionaries that you support or your pastor or whatever. That's wrong. It's you and Jesus. In the end, it's you and Jesus. That's what it's about. And do you know Him personally? Do you know what it's like when the Bible says that all those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved? Do you know that? You must know that. We are so pressed for time. But listen, right where you're at right now, you can say as you're even looking at me, you can say, God, I want to make sure things are right with you and I. And I don't want to get balled up with religion and all this stuff of Babylonianism. I'm not even aware of this stuff. Lord, I'm kind of terrified. I just want to be saved. I want to have my sins forgiven. You're not going to hear that in its modern day message. Lord, I repent of my sin. You're not going to hear that in the message. Lord, forgive me. I don't want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven. I want Jesus as my Lord and Savior. I want your son Yeshua to be my Savior. And you can say that you can say right where you're at right now. Yes, that's what I want. If right now you're saying yes, then I tell you what the pastors here or myself, we would love to know that we're not going to bother you. We just want to know that. But think about it. Who are you following? And where will you go? Is it the Lord of the Bible? Or is it a system of corruption and religion that misses heaven altogether by its grand deception? Father, we thank you for your truth and for your love. And Lord, I pray that you would make sense of our brief time together. This is such bizarre and strange and yet important information. Father, thank you that your Bible is more ready to meet tomorrow, Lord, than we could ever imagine, that your word anticipates everything. So, Father, bless now, Lord, this time. And Father, we ask now in Jesus' name that as we go, we'd go in your power. For it's in your name we pray and all God's people said. Amen. Let's stand as we close. And again, if you made that decision today...