Mike Bickle addresses the emergence of Harlot Babylon, a deceptive force that will lead many believers and unbelievers astray in the end times. He emphasizes the significance of understanding this harlot's influence, which will manifest as a global religious and economic system, seducing leaders and the masses alike. Bickle warns of a great falling away from faith, as foretold in scripture, and the need for believers to remain vigilant and discerning against this impending deception. He encourages the church to engage in prayer and fasting to gain insight and clarity regarding these prophetic revelations. Ultimately, he stresses the importance of being prepared to help others navigate the challenges posed by this harlot.

presence even now in the name of Jesus, Amen. But tonight we're going to continue in our Signs of the Times series talking about the subject of the harlot Babylon because this harlot is being raised up right now in the earth and is deceiving it's not yet it's not at the place where it's it's obvious and clear but its beginnings are clear its beginnings are clear and it's ultimately going to deceive many believers and multitudes of unbelievers and the more understanding we have of this subject even now before it begins to mature in a negative sense or come to pass the more equipped we will be and the more effective we will be in helping others. Roman numeral one first thing I want to look at we look at last week a little bit but the fact of a great falling away at the end of the age that's paragraph a one of the greatest challenges for the church of the end times will be this wholesale falling away that is going to come to pass it says in first Timothy chapter 4 verse 1 now the spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons paragraph B this is review from last week the falling away right before the Lord returns is one of the major signs of the second coming matter of fact Paul puts it in the same paragraph as the two main signs that Paul highlights which is terrifying is the falling away in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 3 and the revealing of the Antichrist the man of sin that that's one of his titles in the scripture as dramatic as the Antichrist appearing is going to be the falling away is going to be that dramatic it's it's a sign of that level of stature and that will be that massive on a global scale Roman numeral to look at the same seven verses we looked at last week but I just want to read them through and just to kind of review them for those that were here and and for those that are new just to so you're familiar with it John said one of the seven angels talked with me and he said to me come I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters verse 2 in whom the kings of the earth I mean the major leaders of the earth will commit fornication with this harlot and then the inhabitants of the earth the vast majority because only a few of our kings will be intoxicated or they will be overcome they will be made drunk by the wine of her fornication and meaning she will seduce them and intoxicate them the masses of the earth being made drunk is really bad in this context well there's another context to but but this means to be intoxicated by the influence and the doctrine and the persuasion of this harlot masses in the earth will be verse 3 now he sees the harlot she's a woman sitting on a scarlet beast and it's clear in the book of Revelation it's identified another in chapter 12 and 13 the scarlet beast is the Antichrist so this harlot is in a unusual relationship of sitting being transported and in supplied by the beast by the Antichrist so they are distinct but they're in relationship to one another for a while eventually they go to war with each other so they're the relationship starts it seems like they're getting along for a while she's sitting on him he's carrying her along making way for her and then eventually as we know from verse 16 that he turns on her and burns her and destroys her verse 4 now this woman this harlot is a raid in purple and scarlet and she's adorned with gold she has a golden cup of abominations and filthiness of her fornication so she's a raid with purple scarlet and gold she looks really good now it's interesting I'm not gonna really develop this tonight but the purple the scarlet the adornment of gold and precious stones with a golden cup are all counterfeits of what the high priest his role in in the nation of Israel in Exodus chapter 28 you can read it through throughout all of Exodus 28 but verse 4 and 5 particularly and other places as well this is the same color colors and the same garments of the high priest in the Jerusalem temple with the golden cup and a miter on his head and a name on his head this is a deliberate counterfeit of the high priest well known in Jewish society that's from Exodus chapter 28 again we won't develop that point but I just wanted to draw that parallel tonight now she has a golden cup in her hand this golden cup looks good it looks golden but it is filled with filth and abominations and that's that's the paradox of this harlot she will look good to the eye and multitudes even believers will look at her and say wow it's it's golden it's a great opportunity this is a good thing this is God's blessing it was she will appear to be a vessel of God's blessing and an agent of divine blessing she'll bring unity to religions and all that must be the Lord's blessing we've been praying for unity but it's gonna be a unity rooted in darkness she's gonna bring prosperity we've been praying for prosperity all the Lord's blessing is on this this new worldwide religion it will appear to be a golden cup but with discernment in the revelation of the word we know it's filled with filthiness now I'm going to make another point here that's not in the notes is that as forerunners we are committed to going to war against this harlot but we cannot war against this harlot by exposing her deeds by resisting her deeds we cannot have authority to resist her while secretly in our private life drinking her cup and and a certain percentage of the church is going to drink her cup in private and then in public present themselves as warring against her it will not work it will not work our only authority to stand against her and to resist her allurement is is in the reality that in our private life we don't drink the cup in very very important point verse 5 she has a name on her forehead just like the high priest has you know the the gold miter that says holiness to the Lord she also has a name on her forehead and the name is the title mystery and as I said last week the mystery isn't actually a part of the title the mystery is describing the fact that her her name is Babylon the Great but there's a mystery in the in the New Testament means there's information that has not yet been disclosed that's what a mystery is the word mystery doesn't mean mysterious I mean this is Babylon is mysterious but that's not the point of the word mystery it means it's information God has not yet revealed in the Word of God like when the Paul the Apostle talked about various mysteries he was saying this is new information that I have direct by the Holy Spirit this angel was giving John something that was new it wasn't something he was gonna find a lot of information about in the scripture little seeds of it in the Old Testament but the angel was saying this is a mystery this is an unveiling of yet undisclosed information John you're the first to receive it and it's it's about Babylon the Great it's about this new reality called Babylon the Great now it is mysterious as well but that's a that's not really the strength of the word mystery it means information that has not yet been disclosed so we can search the Old Testament and we're only gonna find hints because there's not a full disclosure of this revelation this was new this was very surprising to John this this harlot like John could say where's this in the Old Testament and the angel would say it's a mystery it's new information that yet it's not been disclosed yet now she's a mother of harlots and she's the mother of abominations in other words she's the source that's spawning them she's the source that's supplying them she's responsible for giving birth to new dimensions of abomination as well as new harlots new religions where she's done that through history verse 6 he sees the woman again the harlot and this time he's alarmed very alarmed because she's drunk with the blood of the Saints this false religion is going to persecute the church in the end times and and cause multitudes to be martyred she's not it's not a little bit she's drunk she's intoxicated with killing the church and there's a significant amount of the church I don't believe the majority but it still will be significant a significant percentage of the church will join her under the pressure that she produces there some will join her because they're lured by her golden cup others will join her because they fear her martyrdom or her rage for whatever reason they join her it's disastrous for them spiritually first six I saw the woman she was drunk with the blood of the Saints she was drunk with the blood of the martyrs it's the same thing and when I saw her I marveled at her well I was amazed John says you know John could say I know the scripture I've known the Lord for all these years John's in his 90s he goes this is completely a new concept to me it's it's it's remarkable this plan that's been in God's heart that he's now just revealing for the first time with any kind of clarity again there's always divine hints of mysteries a little hints in the Old Testament but nothing that's just absolutely bold and straightforward then the angel tells him says why do you marvel I'm gonna tell you or I'm gonna explain this mystery to you I'm gonna give you more details and the rest of chapter 17 and 18 the angel is giving John brand-new information information about this this entity that's going to be raised up that's filled with evil and so that's what the rest of chapter 17 and 18 is about okay paragraph a John received one of the most significant prophecies related to the end times in Revelation 17 and 18 because it's related to the great falling away beloved we want to be familiar with Revelation 17 and 18 for our own lives first we always have to concern ourselves first with our own hearts but that's not enough we want to be clear messengers we want to have clarity and authority in in in preparing others and delivering others from her deception and her seduction and we can't do that if we're not familiar with it with her ways and and and what she's about Israel's gonna be deceived by the harlot the church is gonna be deceived by the harlot and the kings of the earth will be deceived by the harlot the powerful leaders of the earth and the merchants of the earth will be deceived by her paragraph B a harlot will be raised up across the nations in the end of the year in the end of the age that has two powerful expressions it's one harlot it's one reality but it has two different expressions to it they will operate simultaneously together first there will be a religious network the harlot is first a a new religion on the earth well it's really a combining of the world religions is what it's doing into one new world religion where everybody's unified and everyone's happy and everybody basically believes nothing at the end of the day it's so watered down but it will appeal to the masses and secondly it will be an economic network the word network there I'm sure there's a better word for that but it will be an economic system a global system these two networks will have a complicated interconnection with each other I mean it's complex to understand the full nature of how they work together because they're separate but they work together in in close unity but there is distinctions between the two and again anytime money and religion comes together there's going to be all kinds of different levels of compromise and different ways they relate and different expressions of it on a global basis paragraph C the harlot religion is what I'll call it and the harlot economic system will have the power to seduce and deceive the most powerful leaders on the earth the religion and the economic system will both of them will deceive the powerful leaders of the earth look at chapter 18 verse 1 to 3 for all the nations will be drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication all the nation the Kings that committed fornication with her the merchants of the earth that it became rich with her they will be drunk with her wine goes on in chapter 18 verse 23 for your merchants were the great men of the earth the powerful economically as well as intellectually as well as politically the great men of the earth will buy into this so my point in and saying this to you this is not a small thing John is alarmed he's amazed he's terrified at what he sees let's go to top of page two in the notes the thing that I want to point out is right now the church is not alarmed John was alarmed or amazed instead of amazed you could put alarmed I mean he was he was his spirit was trembling before this revelation we wasn't curiosity it was the weightiness of the reality of it alarmed him very much and yet you can go widespread across the world church almost anywhere in the world and it's almost not on anybody's mind and yet John the Apostle was alarmed and we need to get informed enough to where our spirit is gripped and alarmed by this coming reality Roman numeral three the importance and the difficulty of Revelation 17 and 18 I've said some of this a couple weeks ago the harlot will have a complicated interconnection as a worldwide network and a worldwide economic system again I'm wanting to alert you to the fact that it is we can't really get a clear picture of what it's gonna look like at this point in time and so we have to be aware that there we just have a little bit of information we have enough to be equipped but what it's actually gonna look like and exactly how it's gonna be expressed is still something that it's gonna be hard and difficult to grasp the precise definite identification of the harlot precise and how she will precisely operate will be difficult to grasp but we're looking we're paying attention we're watching we're listening we're studying we're alert and if we if we are alert and we're and we're diligent about this we are not going to be taken by surprise or we're not going to be deceived by it gonna watch it unfold slowly many of the details we won't be clear about until they actually happen and but when it happens we will say oh this is that which was spoken of in the scripture one thing I want to say to all of our teachers here and just anyone who's studying this we this is a very unique subject because it's again there's there's a complicated dynamics involved we must challenge all of our preconceived ideas about this harlot because we think we got it down then a couple years from now we'll look back and say oh my we didn't even begin to understand some of the seriousness and the weightiness of this dilemma we must continually evaluate even our major premises on it it's one thing I'm asking all of those that lead the e12 groups that when they're gathering let's challenge this thing especially this next couple years I mean always we will but because we're so unfamiliar with it we're so biblically illiterate about this subject meaning there's so much in the Bible about it but still we we barely grasp it so let's let's be committed to not letting something dry and cement ahead of time let's let's stay in a place for a long period of time constantly reevaluating what we think about it because it's too important to miss this we've got to constantly be upgrading and updating the information we're getting from the word there's much in the word on it but we understand so little of it just because the body of Christ has not been focused on this there's very little written on it I've done a quite an extensive amount of research on it there's a surprising small amount of literature on this subject that that the research that takes prophecy literal at face value there's a lot of folks that write on it to say it's just a spiritual reality it's called worldliness and they kind of tone it down so much that you never really have to run into it it's just an entity out there but I'm talking about there's a lot of Bible verses on it that we want to take these Bible verses we take them literal we take them at face value and we've got to study large portions of scriptures are devoted to this topic even though all those precise details aren't clear there's still a large amount of scripture look at the end of paragraph 8 look at the very last sentence I have Genesis 10 11 Isaiah 13 14 Isaiah 21 Isaiah 49 7 Jeremiah 50 51 Ezekiel 16 23 26 to 28 those are passages that 99% of believers don't have a clue what's in them and they're big chapters I mean they're massive chapters there some of these are the largest chapters of Isaiah and Jeremiah I mean I haven't actually counted Isaiah but Isaiah 13 and 14 is one of the law big largest prophecies in the book of Isaiah it's one of the largest ones in the whole Bible Jeremiah 15 51 is the largest prophecy in the whole Bible Ezekiel 16 and 23 those are really large I mean they're they go on and on like 63 verses or something like that I mean forever it seems like and they're all about mystery Babylon not only about mystery Babylon but at the very heart of them they're talking about the harlot at the end of the age that's they have a relevant message for us today and yet most of these passages the body of Christ is completely unfamiliar with but we're gonna change that in our own little sphere here we're gonna get familiar with these passages I don't mean in the next week or two just I'm talking about in the next months and years paragraph B Revelation 17 and 18 is the longest prophecy in the book of Revelation and I talked about a little bit there in that paragraph is that there's more information on the prophecy of the harlot than any other prophecies in terms of you know just chunks of Scripture it's just it's such a major theme in the Bible we've got to study it chapter C I mean paragraph C chapter Revelation 17 is a difficult chapter it is the most difficult chapter in Revelation it's so important but it's difficult and the Lord knew that because he wants us to go deep in it he wants us to wrestle with it he wants us to dialogue he wants us to study he wants us to debate it he wants us to go after this thing until we get the details down I asked the Lord that question Lord why is this most significant subject so difficult to grasp and I think I think the answer is because I want you to wrestle with it I want your I want you all grappling with this I want my church grappling with it or they really learn it they get the details down paragraph F we must function as forerunners that prepare the unprepared we must prepare the unprepared it's necessary to wrestle to work diligently through what the scripture says about the harlot and we need to do with fasting and prayer Daniel gives us the the model Daniel took the prophecies of Jeremiah for his generation and he took the prophecies of Jeremiah and he went into fasting and prayer as he studied the prophecies he didn't just fast and pray and not study he fast and prayed and studied the prophecies in the Bible related to his generation and what happened is that the angel of the Lord appeared in Gabriel and Michael appeared to him and gave him insight but it's not enough just to study it we need to study it in a spirit of fasting and prayer it's both and not either or let's just read these verses real quickly it says here in Daniel chapter 9 while I was in prayer and he's fasting as well we find out earlier in Daniel 9 that I I gave while I was in prayer Gabriel he appears and he says Daniel I have come forth to give you skill to understand beloved we need skill to understand Revelation 17 and 18 and then Gabriel says at the beginning of your supplication which is another word for prayer at the beginning of your prayer time the divine command went forth he's talking about the command from God in heaven and I was sent to tell you all of these things therefore he says it tells you this consider the things I'm telling you because I want you to study them now when Gabriel says consider the matter and understand the vision he's telling Daniel to study the vision he goes I'm gonna give you something right now but you need to consider it it's really what a Bible school is about you're considering the matters of the Bible it doesn't mean kind of take a step back hmm let me think about that it means to to grapple with it in a serious in a weighty way to consider the matter the next chapter Daniel 10 it's two years later he's fasting and praying again on another occasion on this 21 day fast we've heard about Daniel's 21 day fast that's Daniel 10 it's a two years after Daniel 9 this is a completely different experience this angel comes to Daniel verse 12 and he says Daniel don't be afraid so you can be sure Daniel was trembling you know someone says I want to see an angel before you get too too excited about that no notice almost every time an angel appears the angel says to the person don't be afraid there's there's a reason the human is shaking trembling I mean for real do not be afraid Daniel for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and what Daniel was trying to understand was what Jeremiah was talking about what the Bible was saying for his generation my question is have you set your heart to understand these the great heart that's going to emerge in the earth in these in these coming days again it might be some decades before it's fully comes to pass but it might not be either but I am convinced the beginning of it is already emerging have you set your heart to understand the scriptures related to your generation this is what Daniel was doing with fasting and prayer he says from the first day that you set your heart to understand to humble yourself your words were heard in other words he's praying his words are his prayer he goes we heard in heaven we heard your prayers and is this an interesting statement he goes I have come because of your words do you know that angels come because of your words if Daniel was not praying the angel would not have come because Daniel was coming he came because of his prayer Daniel's a man he's he's 84 years old he's sitting in his chair maybe he's pacing you know if he's like me he's pacing but he's sitting there in his it says in Daniel 6 verse 10 that Daniel's habit from his youth from his teenage years to his 80s now he's 84 when he's having this vision and Daniel 6 says from his youth to the time when it was talking about in his 80s he prayed three times a day he devoted three portions of his day to prayer from his mid teens to his mid 80s and the angel I've listened to you it matters that you're doing this you don't even have to pray out loud you can pray most of all of our prayers are quiet prayers most of our prayers I hope they are meaning if the only time you pray is when you pray on a microphone then you're only praying you know a very short amount of time most of our prayers are prayers from our are just prayers we speak in our heart as we come and go and so don't have an idea of what this prayer looks like it could just it could be there with your Bible open you could be not making any noise at all but your prayers going forward he says from the moment that your words came you began to pray your words were heard I've come because your words but the demonic principality of Persia stood against me and then Michael came to help me and then what why verse 14 he goes why have I comes to make you understand what will happen to Israel in the end times angels are sent to give people understanding of the end times but Daniel's searching the word it's not just that he's praying and fasting he's praying and fasting and searching the word that's the combination look at Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14 it's a solid food that is in context it's in contrast to the milk of the word the milk of the word is the introductory principles I didn't put that passage is the verse before the milk of the word but then there's the the solid food there's the heavy things of the word the things that are not easy to understand the weightier issues of the word it says the solid food or that which isn't the milk the the easy stuff belongs to the people who are a full age in other words who are mature they're mature God that's what the phrase of full age means that is he goes on to describe what it means to be a full age to those who by reason of use their senses are exercised to discern good and evil by reason of use meaning our discernment is made sharp because we we use our discernment often we we feed ourself on the solid meat of the word when it says solid food here one translation says the meat of the word and it's not just we have discernment some people say well I kind of got a you know I gotta have discernment and and and a lot of people do some people have the gift of suspicion and they think it's discernment but there I'm not even talking about the gift of discernment the discerning of spirits I'm talking about our DS our senses are trained by reason of use in other words by by feeding ourself the meat of the word and by grappling with it and by seeking to understand it our senses become more discerning over time you take these chapters Revelation 17 and 18 it's been a couple years on them although we never want to ever be disconnected you will become so much more discerning as to the tendencies that are already present in our society of the harlot if you can study these these verses they are solid food they're meat they're hard to grasp but by reason of use by by applying yourself to it in the Daniel model add some fasting and prayer to it your DS your senses will become trained they will increase you will see more clearly and more precisely what is emerging that is good and what is emerging in in our in the nations that is actually evil beloved there's a lot of things that are evil that men will call good it's one of the main prophecies in Jeremiah and Isaiah is that men will call good things evil men will call oh you don't want to do that fasting and prayer thing that's that's legalism you don't want to get into that radical obedience they will call good evil they will call it religion and they will call it unnecessary they will call what God calls good they will call it evil they will call it unnecessary I'll call it worthless but they'll do the other thing as well then they'll go the other direction and they'll call what is evil they will say look the blessing of God the blessing of God the blessing of God and who's going to know which is true and which is false the people who by reason of use who feed themselves on the solid meat of the Word and they exercise their spiritual senses through fasting and prayer and through choices of righteousness and feeding themselves on the Word and taking a stand for the Word of God, your spirit will become trained in discernment. Beloved, we need to be trained. I want to be trained for my own good, but I want to be trained because I want to help deliver multitudes of people from error. We want to be a voice, not just deliver ourselves, we want to deliver multitudes. When they hear the sound of your voice, whether it's singing or speaking or writing, when they hear what God has spoken to you, it makes sense to them and the fog is lifted when they hear what God has put in your heart when you speak with discernment. Okay, Roman numeral four. These are a couple basic premises. I just put a few of them down here. What I want you to do, I'll give you an assignment, is that on these basic premises, I just put a couple down here just a couple minutes before we printed this off because I could think of about 10 or 15 premises, but it ran out of space, only had x amount of space and but so here, this is your assignment, to get as many basic premises clear and written about Revelation 17 and 18 as you can come up with. What are the basic premises that you think are clear in the Word? However, we want to challenge them often because this is too important of a subject to go, you know, to get your doctrine from your denominational headquarters. We need to get our clarity by challenging one another in the Word and staying alive in these things. I mean, our spirit interested is what I mean, alive in them. I mean, our spirit vibrant and up-to-date on what the Lord's saying to us through His Word. Premise number one, the harlot by definition is one who is formally in covenant with God. That's what a harlot is. That's premise number one, that the harlot, and this is part of the mystery, and this is the part of the trauma of it, the trauma of the harlot. I mean, it's traumatic, the presence of the harlot. The harlot isn't, the core of the harlot is not people who did not know God. The multitudes of the earth will get seduced, but at the very core of the harlot are people who have a claim to know God. That is a terrifying reality. In other words, at the very core of the harlot will be Israel and the church. Israel that has a covenant with God as a nation and the church that has individual covenant with God as individuals at the core of the harlot will be the leadership of those who have claimed to have covenant with God. That's fundamental to a harlot. Some people have watered this down to where what they think the harlotry is, is just heathens being heathens. No, when heathens continue as heathens, that means they're drunk by the harlot's wine, but who's the harlot that's making them drunk? It's those who have claimed a relationship with God in covenant and now they have violated it in a false way. I mean, well, anytime you violate it, it's a false way. They have, they have sought to, to a seek God according to falseness in a counterfeit way. I believe that the harlot will be dynamically related to Israel and the church. That's part of, I think what John was shocked by. He was amazed. He was marveling. It was, oh no, no, because beloved, a harlot has a prior, at least a prior claim to relationship. Paragraph B, another premise, Israel's corporate harlotry in scripture, because when Israel as a, because this isn't the point of it as an individual physical harlotry, he's talking to a nation. Most of the references to harlotry, there's about 90 of them to adult, to corporate harlotry or, or, uh, uh, adultery. And it's talking, all of them are talking to Israel except for two passages. They're, they're, they're, they're, they're all focused on the nation of Israel. And whenever God is talking about harlotry, he's talking about idolatry, idolatry. You could read more. It's, it's more than that, but that's the core reality. It's idolatry. Paragraph C, the harlot will have great prominence. You have prominence in religion and prominence in economics. That's one of the main premises. We don't know exactly how it's going to be walked out, but we know she's going to be really big in religion worldwide. And she's going to be really big in economics. Say, well, what specific is that going to look like? We don't know, but we know the kings of the earth and the merchants and the great men of the earth will be deceived by her. They'll, so it will look good. It won't be, it won't be, uh, easily to, you know, uh, it won't look like a sham easily. It will to believers with discernment and people will not appreciate our discernment on this. They will not like it because they will be so excited about the development of what this harlot is promising them in the golden cup. Paragraph E here's my present theory. I'm that doesn't mean it's right, but the reason I'm calling it a theory, cause this is a complicated subject. It's a complicated subject and I'm open to correct any part of this at any time, but I want to, you know, push my boat out from shore, so to speak, to get out into the waters and begin to really grapple with this. My present theory is this. The harlot will involve two different cities that will work very closely together for mutual benefit. They will benefit each other. It's one harlot, but there's two expressions, the two in cities, and they will be judged at two separate times. That's my, that's what I believe is. That's what my theory is at this point in time, a couple of years from now, I may see that it's one city or it may be five cities. There may be a whole different look to this when it really actually happens. In other words, the harlot will be a composite harlot. In other words, it will have, it will involve different entities. Well, the religious and the economic networks, but in other cities there might be a number of major cities that are, that are central to the harlot. A composite harlot means that it's, it's made up of a number of different entities, is what I mean. But we know that, or we assume, I'd rather say we assume, it combines two vast global institutions. This is an assumption. Operating in two different cities, they work close together to deceive the whole earth. And obviously not the body of Christ, but I mean, they deceive every region of the earth is deceived by it. Not every individual of the earth. Revelation 17, there's a religious Babylon or spiritual one. Revelation 18, there's an economic Babylon. Paragraph F, F and G are, are my most concise takeaway paragraphs to take away and look at. And if you want to know where my conclusions are, I mean, not my conclusions, where I'm at today, because again, I I'm, I'm open to be wrong on this, but I've studied it more than a little bit and it seems, it seems apparent to me, this is, this is what it is. It seems most likely to me at this time, so I'm putting all my qualifiers in, seems at this time, that's, I'm emphasizing those, that the harlot worldwide religious network will be established in the city of Jerusalem. That's what I believe to this day, that the leaders of the worldwide unified religion will actually be based in the city of Jerusalem, celebrating the worldwide unity. Finally, unity has come and it will be led by Jews and Christians in Jerusalem. And the world will celebrate it, the great breakthrough, and it will be a harlot through and through. And it will work with its counterpart, which is equally the harlot, just a different expression of it, which is a worldwide economic network based in the rebuilt city of Babylon on the Euphrates River. What I mean, the reason I say it that way, because if you read different commentaries, they talk about Babylon on the Euphrates River. Ancient Babylon, the major city, the, the world-powerful city in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar was on the Euphrates River. That city right now is only about a 5,000-member city called Hilla, H-I-L-L-A or H-I-L-L-A-H. You can spell it two different ways. It's about 5,000 people. It's a little kind of, little insignificant city, about like Jerusalem was about 100 years ago. And I believe that city is going to be rebuilt like Jerusalem was in recent years, in the last 50, 60 years, as it's had a re-emergence on the world scene. And I believe the actual city of Babylon will actually be rebuilt like the actual city of Jerusalem was actually rebuilt after 2,000 years of lying desolate. And it's the, it's not just the spirit of Babylon. It's the, it's an actual city on the Euphrates River. It's in Iraq. And of course, most of you are aware of the fact that Saddam Hussein had put millions, which is a very small amount of money, millions of dollars into restoring ancient Babylon. It was, he put, I mean, lots of millions. And his goal in the wars he was involved in, in the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War was, and taking over Kuwait, his goal was to get the oil to rebuild the city, to make this a world-class city and to make Iraq the modern world power like it, like it was under Nebuchadnezzar, called Babylon. Babylon was a nation and a city. It was the city of Babylon and the nation was called Babylon. And so Nebuchadnezzar wanted to raise up the city of Babylon, but the nation was called Iraq. But, you know, he, he didn't mind that. But it was the same geographic area, approximately. I mean, there's a, the boundary lines are a little bit different to, uh, with Iraq than it was ancient Babylon, but significantly the same area. I believe that city is going to be rebuilt and I believe that it will be an economic center that is going to fuel the religious center in Jerusalem. I believe they will fund it. They will fund it. They will underwrite it and they will be in a dynamic relationship with one another. So somebody might say, well, which one is the harlot? They both are the harlot working in tandem, working in dynamic relationship with one another. And so the reason, uh, we, well, we care about that for a lot of reasons, but one reason is that we're watching the trends. We're watching what's happening. And as we watch and see things unfold, I think there's going to be some surprising events take place that we will get an urgency in our spirit when we see, uh, modern day events actually take place that, that validate some of these things. Look what Isaiah said in his day. And when Isaiah said this, Isaiah 1 verse 21, he was talking about his day, but he was also talking about the generation the Lord returns because the promises of the, of the, uh, of the, uh, second coming in verse 26 are present in this passage as well. But in verse 21, here's what Isaiah says. He's talking about his own day, undoubtedly, but I believe it has an application to end time Jerusalem as well before the second coming, how the faithful city has become a harlot. They says in verse 25, I will turn my hand against you. I will thoroughly purge away all of your sin, your dross. It's the same as sin. And after I thoroughly purge you, you will then again be called the city of righteousness. You will be the faithful city once I've purged you. And some would like to think the purging is over. I don't believe it's anywhere close to over. I believe that, that the, uh, Jerusalem will act out. We'll walk out her harlotry nature beyond any time in history. Her worst hour as a harlot is yet to emerge on the, on the world scene. The leaders in Jerusalem, Jewish leaders and Christian leaders and the, uh, uh, uh, Islamic leaders, the three monotheistic religions, I believe will come together in unity in Jerusalem. And it will be the most exciting moment to the majority of the earth in a religious sense. I'll go finally, uh, uh, finally unity has come and many Christians will jump in and there'll be significant Christian leaders are helping to lead this. I believe there'll be Islamic leaders and Jewish leaders that will be in Jerusalem. The city of, uh, of, of, of, of those, the key city of those three religions, or it's the one city that is key to all three of those religions is a better way to say it. Paragraph G. Well, wait, I'm going to say one more thing here in F. What's happening at the same time is that the leaders of Jerusalem, the political leaders will make a covenant with the antichrist. That is a terrifying concept, but it's a biblical concept. They will make a covenant with the antichrist. I've spent a whole session or two on that at other times. I'm not going to give verses for all that. You get it on the internet. If you, if you care and the abomination of desolations will happen in Jerusalem, which is the key. It's the key issue, the abomination of desolations for Israel, for Jerusalem being the world center of the antichrist religion. Jerusalem is going to get really intense before this thing is over. And the two witnesses will be present there prophesying and doing miracles and the 144,000 will end up there. And the nations of the earth will gather around the city. There's Jerusalem will be the most dramatic city and the outpouring of the Holy spirit will hit Jerusalem as well. And then the Lord will make it the key city for the rest of human history. And in the future, I mean, billions times, billions of years, it will be the key city. Paragraph G it seems most likely to me at this time and notice again, the qualifiers again, because I'm, I'm, I, I, I'm not adamant that I, that I'm a right on this, but I'm pretty confident enough to put it in print with some qualifiers because again, I I've searched it out a bit over the years. It just makes the most sense to me now, but, but I'm saying, Lord, uh, make it clear. And I, you know, as iron sharpens iron, as brothers and sisters speak the word to one another, we grow in our understanding. But anyway, it seems most likely to me at this time, paragraph G that the harlot religious network in Jerusalem will be burned by the antichrist at the time of the abomination of desolation. So in other words, at the beginning of the final three and a half years, the antichrist will actually burn this religion. And the way he burns this, uh, he burns the headquarters and he burns the outlets. They, you know, it's, it's, uh, worldwide, uh, outlets are the places where they gather. He will cause them to be outlawed and burned. And he will, he will, break the system worldwide and destroy it. And the reason he's doing it, because he wants to make way for his own, his own religion. He's got a religion of his own. That's different though. Both of them are demonic. They're completely different expressions because the harlot religion will be very tolerant. All religions are welcome and everybody's right. Antichrist doesn't like that at all. He uses it because he's going to use that to weaken. He's going to use it to weaken the spiritual conviction of the nations. He doesn't believe that for a moment that all religions are right and everybody's right. Matter of fact, he despises that, but he tolerates it because it weakens the vast religions of the earth, because it brings a spirit of compromise to all the major religions. They end up believing nothing and it sets the stage for his religion, which is not at all. Everybody's right. And, and, uh, all religions are right. And every person's right. He goes, no, there's only one way. That's right. Me. I am the only one that's God. And if you don't worship me and only me, you get killed in the harlot religion. We'll take a step back and say, wait, wait, time out. You're being so legalistic about this. You know, we're just enjoying worldwide unity and liberty because those days are over. So now these multitudes of millions that are in this new religion are going. Now the religion is now outlawed. How could it be outlawed? We were just on, we were just in the, in a time of revival. The world was just getting captured by this Renaissance of unity and goodness. He says away with it. He goes, it's not, I only used it for a minute to weaken you, to weaken the resolve and the conviction of the major religions of the earth. And he will burn it. It says clearly in revelation 17, verse 16, he will burn this harlot. He'll destroy it. He will make her desolate. And I believe what he's doing is burning the actual facilities or burning and destroying the places where the headquarters in the places where the people gather worldwide. It's like a Nazi Germany, Germany, they burned the synagogues and destroyed them throughout Germany. They didn't get all of them, but they burned many of them. They were destroyed because there was only one religion that worked at Nazi Germany. It was the, it was the obedience and adoration of Adolf Hitler. Not all these joined all because you know, they, they, they, they had a state church and everybody in that state church, the majority of the people ended up joining Hitler because when they were all getting, they were, they were getting weaker and weaker. The more they became in unity because they had to give up their convictions to be in unity. And then Hitler came in and says, you know, way with everything. The communism does the same thing. Communism came in and said, Hey, the church is okay for a minute. And then outlaws all the churches and gets rid of them all turns all the churches into state buildings and, and other kinds of things. In other words, communism destroyed the national religion. Most religions, most dictators do that when they get in power, they did it in China as well. Paragraph G in the middle, the Harlot economic network in Babylon. Now remember there's a heart there, there's an economic center in Babylon, a couple of hundred miles over there, you know, about six or 700 miles over there is Babylon, you know, and, and they've been supplying this, uh, Jerusalem religious network and, and the antichrist is no, it's illegal. And they look at us and say, well, you know, it's our, you know, we're buddies, you know, we're co-harlots in this thing together, but a, Hey, antichrist, we like you. I mean, you know, we can change, you know, we're not stuck anywhere. And I believe they, they transfer their loyalty and their wealth to support his system. And then even at the end of the, at the end of it all, he burns them as well. And that's a bigger subject for another day. But Satan in Satan's kingdom, we have this idea. Well, that would be so idiotic. Why wouldn't he just use everything? Well, the kingdom of darkness is profoundly divided. Demons hate demons and demonized people hate demonized people. They think they have a bad spirit. You know, that guy's got a bad spirit over there. That's what demons think about each other. They don't trust each other. They don't like working together. They all have separate agendas. Well, you could get to get, you could get a lot more done. If you just all work together, that's too bad. I got my agenda and I don't like that other guy. And that's a, to an extreme, this is going to happen. And the reason I'm giving you this kind of detail, is it because we have to know this kind of detail today, but this kind of detail gives you a framework to study revelation 17 and 18. And it gives you a framework to make sense of some of the verses. It's the studying of the passages that I want you to do. We don't have to, we don't have to land it just, you know, perfectly clear at this early in the game, so to speak. It's not a game, but this early on, we don't have to get it precisely clear, but I'm only giving you my idea. So as you're reading revelation 17 and 18 and Jeremiah 50 and 51 and Isaiah 13 and 14, Isaiah 21, Isaiah 47, Ezekiel chapter 16, Ezekiel 23, Ezekiel 26 and 28, all those passages are, they all work together. And so I have found that as I get a clear framework, then a lot of the obscure verses in those chapters begin to make sense. Paragraph five, I mean Roman numeral five, we'll end with this Roman numeral here. We'll just go through it a little bit. Paragraph five, Roman numeral five, there will be two different religious movements in the end times. Two different ones. Two different worldwide religious movements. The first one will be the harlot religion that seduces all the kings of the earth and they're drunk. They love her. I mean, they're drunk. They're intoxicated with her. Give us more of your religion. The Antichrist, it makes clear in Revelation 17 verse 16, he burns that whole network. He destroys it in the same way that Stalin destroyed state religion in the Soviet Union and Hitler destroyed religion in Germany and Mao destroyed religion in China. The Antichrist will destroy that religion. It served its purpose. It weakened religious convictions and it did a lot of other things as well. It unified a lot of people and a lot of data and it brought a whole lot of loyalties together into unity and then he could control them a lot, a lot better once he identified them and categorized them at different groups and found out who the leaders were. I mean, it was really, he was deceiving them the whole time. He knew he would destroy them. We knew he was going to destroy them. But then the second religion is the Antichrist religion. It's not, people aren't drunk with that. They don't go, oh please give me more. It's a, it's a intolerant regime. There is no movement in it at all. You obey a hundred percent or you die. They're thinking this isn't, this doesn't feel the same as the other one did. It's not the same. It is a cruel, intolerant, narrow religion that has no room for private ideas and private doctrines or private interpretations. It's the Antichrist religion. He demands the world to worship him on his terms. Number one, I just say it over and over, so I'll just, just do that. I'll say it over and over here. Number one, Satan will raise up a tolerant worldwide religious network that will be supported by the economic base of Babylon. And it look, at first it will look like, well that's the ultimate, a worldwide network, religious network, and Babylon is supplying it with economics, underwriting it. They're making money off of each other. They're, in their relationship, they're gaining prominence and wealth and religious influence. And it seems to be going well, stage one. Satan is behind that. But number two, Satan, it was only a trick. It was only a trick to weaken the people and to identify them and to find out who the leaders were and to get everybody in the right category, so to speak, so he could control them later. Number two, Satan will raise up another worldwide religious movement that will be totally intolerant. It will also be supported by the economic base in Babylon. Paragraph B, in stage one, the harlot religion will be voluntary, moderate, liberal, humanistic. It will blend all the major religions of the world. The majority of the people in the world will not perceive it is demonic and dangerous. They will not, they will perceive it as the answer to prayer. It is demonic and it is spiritually dangerous. It will cause multitudes to deny their faith. Paragraph C, my assumption, this is only an assumption, that the religious leaders, which I believe will be in Jerusalem, they'll be Christian, Islamic and Jewish together in the city of Jerusalem. The religious leaders and the financial leaders over in Babylon will not be the same group of people, but they will work together well. They'll have the same spirit of darkness. They have the same values. There'll be two different groups of of leaders, but they'll have the same spirit. Says in paragraph E, the religious network will be destroyed. As I've already mentioned several times by the 10 nation confederation, the Antichrist, it says here in chapter 17, verse 16, and the 10 horns, which you saw, that's the 10 nations working with the Antichrist. It's clear throughout the book of Revelation, the 10 horns are always the 10 nations. It says it in Daniel and it says it in Revelation. It's really clear. There's not much debate about that by anybody. Those 10 horns, those 10 nations, which you saw working together with the beast of the Antichrist, the beast of the Antichrist, 36 times in the book of Revelation. So these 10 nations and the Antichrist, they will hate this harlot religion. They will hate the religion dimension of the harlot. They will, they will even hate in their heart. They will even hate the economic center, but they'll use it for the next three and a half years, but they will make her desolate and they will burn her with fire. Paragraph F in stage two, Satan will raise up another worldwide religion. It will be the Antichrist worship movement. It will be totally involuntary. You don't get to choose. Either you submit or you die. It says here in Revelation 13, verse 4, so they worshiped the beast, the nations, and they said, who is like the Antichrist? Who is able to make war with him? And the Antichrist was given authority to continue for three and a half years or 42 months. He could operate in this realm of influence for three and a half years and then God cut him off. Well, Jesus came and destroyed him. Verse 7, it was granted to him by God to make war with the saints and to actually overcome the saints, meaning to martyr them and kill them. That's what it means to overcome them. For 42 months, for three and a half years, he can kill the saints. Not all the saints, but an unusual increase of martyrs compared to any other time in history. I don't believe the majority will be killed, but the number still will be substantial. Verse 8, all who dwell on the earth, talk about unbelievers, those who do not have their names in the Lamb's book of life, all who dwell on the earth, they will worship him. This is a worldwide worship movement. Then we'll end with this next verse. I have the worship team go ahead and come up. Verse 15, he was granted, this is the false prophet, is he, he was granted by God to give breath to the image of the beast. I know you know this passage, but just good to hear it again. He was granted to give power, the false prophet, to give, I mean, breath to the image of the beast so that the image could speak. That's intense. So we got a speaking statue. We got a breathing statue. But it's more than that he breathes and speaks, he causes. This statue legislates. This statue creates laws. This statue causes the people who don't worship to be killed. This is an intolerant religion. Verse 16, then he causes all, the rich and the poor, everybody to receive a mark. Verse 17, and if you don't receive the mark, you can't by yourself, meaning now it's a total global economic monopoly. That's, this is, this Antichrist religion is far more intense than the harlot religion was, far more intense. That's why he used her and then abused her and got rid of her and destroyed her. His intention always was a global religion with no tolerance at all. Everybody on the pain of death and starvation had to worship him his way. That's what he's after. Well, I don't want to just end with that. Revelation 19, then one comes on a white horse and on his robe is king of kings and lord of lords and he slays the beast by the brightness of his appearing and by the sword that came from his mouth. He punishes all the nations that participated and the saints come back clothed in garments of white and bright which are the righteous deeds they did when they were on the earth and we dash the nations and rule them have a wedding feast and there's going to be a wedding. Let's stand.