Mike Bickle discusses 'The Fall of Babylon' in Revelation 17 and 18, emphasizing the angelic explanation of the severe judgments against Babylon and the Antichrist's empire. He highlights the seductive power of the harlot system, which will lead many believers to fall away from their faith due to its apparent prosperity and humanitarian efforts, while also warning of the cruel persecution that will arise against the saints. Bickle stresses the importance of understanding the temporary nature of this system, as it will ultimately face inevitable destruction. He encourages the church to stand firm in truth amidst the rising tide of deception and to prepare for the coming revival and judgment.

Read the notes, raise your hand real quick, just in case somebody didn't get them. A few hands go up if the ushers would get those to you. Well, this is session 11, the fall of Babylon, Revelation 17 and 18. Now, we're only going to look at the introduction to this, not all the details of it, simply because of time. But we'll go a lot deeper in the days to come on this very, very relevant subject with many, many points that we're not covering. But I want to give you some takeaway points for today, because there are some practical takeaways for right now, for this hour of history. But let's get a little overview of what's going on here. Paragraph A, Revelation 17 and 18 is an angelic explanation that follows the crisis described in the seven bowls in the chapter before, chapter 16. And the term angelic explanation is just a, I'm trying to use an easy term, it's a parenthesis. Chapter 17 and 18 is like a parenthetical section, where the angel puts the storyline on hold, and puts it on pause, and tells John the behind-the-scene information as to why what's happening in the storyline is so intense and so severe. Paragraph B, this is review, there are five chronological sections in the book of Revelation. They tell us the main storyline of God's judgment events against Babylon and the Antichrist empire. So there's five parts of the book of Revelation where the storyline unfolds, one event after the other, then after a little bit of the storyline, the angel puts it on pause, and it's like he tells John, sit down, I'm going to tell you the behind-the-scenes information as to why what happened has to happen. Because John's a little blown away by the events as they're unfolding, one after the other, undoubtedly. They are so intense, they are so severe, and his natural questions are, why so severe? And the other question is, what about the saints? What about us? And the angelic explanations, the parenthesis, they give that information, and right here in Revelation 17 and 18, this is a parenthesis. This is the angels explaining to John the behind-the-scenes of what's happening. Paragraph C, the final event, I mean, the last event that was revealed was in Revelation 16, it was the seventh bowl. So the most severe earthquake in history, followed by a hundred-pound hill stones, destroying the cities of the earth. So John, as I can just imagine, I'm just picturing John, he's going, what? The angel says, John, I'm losing you. I can tell. Let's pause this thing for a minute. Let me explain why this has to happen. I mean, look at that, Revelation 16. There's an earthquake. This is the seventh bowl. A mighty great earthquake, such as men have never seen on the earth, the greatest earthquake in human history. Babylon is being destroyed. And the reason Babylon is being destroyed, the chapters we're on tonight tell us, because Babylon filled the earth with sorcery, immorality, had economic control of the nations, was persecuting and murdering the saints, and that's why Babylon has to be completely destroyed, because her infrastructure was touching all throughout the nations of the earth, and so these hell stones, this earthquake is actually, it's a demolition time, where all the infrastructure of the Babylon systems are being annihilated and destroyed and removed. Paragraph D. The angel was showing John why it was necessary to destroy the cities of the earth this way. And why Jesus will dash to pieces the societal infrastructure of the nations. Now, we all love Psalm 2. That's a famous psalm about the Messiah, Psalm 2. King David wrote it. And we love the verse 8. I will give you the nations for your inheritance. It's the Father speaking to the Son. We all love Psalm 2, verse 8. Father, give Jesus the nations. No one ever quotes verse 9. And it's not funny, but no one quotes verse 9. We say, give us the nations, and of course we do it in context to the missions movement, and we should. But when Jesus fully receives the nations in that hour, verse 9, He will break them, and He will dash them to pieces, like a potter's vessel. It's like there's a clay vessel, and He will dash the nations to pieces. That's the seven bowls in Revelation 16. It's Jesus dashing the nations to pieces, because the nations are permeated with the sorcery, immorality, perversion, and economic manipulation and control of the Babylonian system. That's why the nations must be dashed. Because they're all going to be completely rebuilt, except for the part where righteousness was established, that I believe there's continuity in this age to the age to come. That's another point for another time. But if there's a city that overturns abortion, then that's a city where Jesus doesn't have to overturn that law when He returns. When there's righteousness anywhere on the earth, and there will be righteousness, there will be great advances in righteousness, there will be a continuity between the righteousness that happens in this age and what happens in the age to come. But I'm getting way off the subject here, because I lost some of you when we said, dash the nations. You went, oh my goodness. But that's what Psalm 2 says, and that's what the seven bowls of wrath accomplished. Paragraph E, Revelation 17 is one of the most significant end-time prophecies, because it gives insight into Satan's strategy to deceive the nations. Satan wants to deceive the nations and put his systems in place. Because one of the reasons this is so significant that we understand it, it will cause many Christians to fall away from their faith. Now I don't believe most will, but I believe many will. I believe it will be millions and millions. They will denounce Christ under the pressures of the oppression, and under the seduction and temptation of the harlot system. They won't just denounce Christ because of pressure, they'll denounce Christ because of the seductions of what the harlot Babylon system is offering the nations. It will appear very, very good on the front end. Now while I believe there will be millions falling away, I believe there will be hundreds of millions coming to the Lord in the great harvest. I believe at the same time of the falling away is the ingathering of souls, the great harvest. So two things are happening at the same time frame. Paragraph F, the main message of chapter 17, that's all we're going to look at the first part of chapter 17, because that gives us, it sets the stage to understand the rest of it. The first six verses is all we're looking at that sets the stage. It tells the main point of spiritually where the seduction is going to be in the earth, how intense the seduction and the persecution will be. That's why we're just looking at the first six verses. The main themes of chapter 17 is the seductive power, the cruel persecution, along with the inevitable destruction of the harlot systems. I want to say that again. The main message of Revelation 17 is that the harlot system has seductive power. And the nations will love it. They will rejoice in it. This is amazing. There will be economic prosperity. There will be total rampant immorality. No morals, no moral absolutes at all. And it will all be under the banner of God is pleased and isn't this wonderful. And there will be a temporary world peace at the same time. And many people say, well maybe this is the thing we've been praying for. It's not. It is the counterfeit will emerge first. The counterfeit global prosperity, unity of the nations and world peace, and the counterfeit global justice movement will be led by the harlot Babylon system. And many believers, not most, but many, millions will say this is what we've prayed for. But if they have even a foundational understanding of the scripture, they will know this is the counterfeit, the deception. And it will be very, very seductive in its power. But also Revelation 17 tells us more. It will have cruel persecution. Though this religious system that will be filled with humanitarian works and having gold and prosperity, they will be drunk with the blood of the saints. The saints will be the ones they see as the arch enemy of global unity and prosperity. They will say that one group that is voicing this is of the devil, when we've never had world unity at this level, we've never had world prosperity at this level, we've never had more goodness happen, and they keep saying it's of the devil. They are criminals of the state. They're enemies of society is what the saints will look like. But the message isn't just the saints will have cruel persecution and the nations will be seduced powerfully. There's also the inevitable destruction of these systems, meaning the saints need to be steady, because it's only a temporary exaltation of the harlot. This system will go down forever and be wiped off the face of the earth. It's only a temporary counterfeit delusion. I mean, it's real, but it's a counterfeit justice movement. Top of page 2. Now, the two signs that Paul gave that indicate Jesus' second coming, Paul gave two signs that are above, he highlighted two above all the others, and the two of them are really negative. The two signs that Paul highlighted, paragraph A, is a falling away from the faith. There will be a falling away from the faith that is so visible, it won't be a steady, kind of a subtle falling away through history, like some theologians say, well, this is a gradual falling away that's not really noticed. This is so pronounced that it will be a sign of the times. And the second one is the revealing of the Antichrist on the world stage. So the falling away and the revealing of the Antichrist are proportionate signs, meaning the falling away will be so pronounced it will be of the same level as the Antichrist appearing on the world stage. That's a pretty big sign, the Antichrist on the world stage. Well, the falling away will be that pronounced of a sign as well to be just two, one of the two signs that Paul gave. Let's read it. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul said, let no one deceive you by any means, for the day of the Lord will not come, until the falling away comes first, until the man of sin, the Antichrist, is revealed. He says, don't be deceived. The Lord's not returning for His people until the falling away comes first and the Antichrist is on the world stage. Until those two things happen, the Lord is not returning. Some people say He's coming any minute. I said, no, the falling away, I can see the early stirrings of it. And just this whole religion of tolerance that's finding its way in the church in a very, very rapid pace in the cultural wars that are escalating right now globally. Globally, the cultural wars where absolutes are being cast aside, the authority of the Scriptures being cast aside, even in the midst of many people who profess faith in Christ. Absolutes and the authority of the Word are being cast aside, but I think it's going to be far more intense before the Lord returns. So some people say, well, the Lord's coming any minute. Well, until the falling away comes and until the Antichrist is on the world stage, Paul says, don't be deceived by anyone. It's not coming until those two things happen. He says, he goes on to talk more about the Antichrist. He says, the coming of the lawless one, verse 9, that's Antichrist again, that's another title for him, is according to the working of Satan, with all power, he'll have tremendous demonic display of power. It will be lying signs and wonders, meaning the signs and wonders will be real, but they will give a lying message. I mean, it won't be a play of hands or whatever you call it, a magician's trick. They will be true signs. But they will be lying wonders because they won't have the truth. The message associated with it will be a lie. And they will come with all unrighteous deception among all who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth. Now, the love of the truth, in paragraph A, is more than intellectual adherence to the truth. A lot of people will say, I believe Jesus is God and he died for me. That's not the same thing as love of the truth. Love of the truth is more than an intellectual agreement with the truth. It's to take a firm stand for the truth, regardless what it costs us. That's love of the truth. Those that love the truth will grasp the truth. Now, none of us have it all clear. Nobody does. But it will become more and more clear. The whole storyline of the end time and everything will become more clear. The Lord will have his people, I mean a billion of them around the world, prepared and ready before the Lord returns, as the great harvest brings in so many as well. Paragraph B, there will be an end time falling away. Now, the Spirit expressly says, in the last days, the Holy Spirit expressly says, in the last days some will depart from the faith. Not the majority, but the number will be big enough to be a sign of the times, according to Paul. They will give heed to deceiving spirits. They will give heed to doctrines of demons. And the people that speak these doctrines will speak lies. And they will have hypocrisy in their heart. They will claim to love truth, but they love their own self-gain. There's the hypocrisy. They know they don't love the truth, but they present themselves as loving the truth. Their conscience will be seared with an iron, and they will forbid, even forbidding to marry. Now, the reason I threw that in there, because that's kind of like a random point, that the forbidding to marry, some people read this, I don't agree with them, but the traditional view of this, is forbidding to marry means, you know, it's some different denominations, I've seen the Catholic Church is the harlot Babylon, and Rome is the city, and the celibacy of the Catholic priesthood is the forbidding to marriage. And I don't believe this is what that's about. I believe the forbidding to marry, to marry is where the gay agenda is going in the nation, that many places in the earth it will actually be illegal to marry. That's a prophecy from Paul. I believe this is about the gay agenda, escalating beyond where it's at right now. That marriage itself, in parts of the world, will be outlawed and forbidden. And so that's how perverse the nations will be. That even the institution of marriage, will be outlawed in various parts of the world. Not everywhere. Now a doctrine of demons, is not a, everyone that speaks, a doctrine of demons doesn't mean, it's a lie, that I believe a doctrine of demons is a lie, that actually brings into jeopardy someone's salvation. Meaning if somebody believes the lie, like Jesus is not the only way of salvation, that's a lie. If you believe that lie, and you act on it, and you believe in other sources, then a person won't be saved. That's a doctrine of demon in my opinion. It's a doctrine that actually affects, or hinders somebody from salvation, or causes somebody to deny the faith. And the people that speak doctrines of demons, aren't all demonized people. Some people mix that up, they think a doctrine of demon is only spoke, by a demonized crazed man. Well Peter, told Jesus, don't go to the cross, and Jesus said, get thee behind me Satan. He wasn't saying you're demonized Peter, but he was saying that's a doctrine of demons Peter. What you're telling me, you're a good man, but you're telling me, not to go to the cross, your whole salvation, the whole salvation order will be, would never be established, if I listen to you Peter. That's Satan talking to you. So that, and I think some of the men are demonized, who have, who teach doctrine of demons. But I think doctrine of demons, is not just some insidious, kind of mysterious evil doctrine, that men with horns on, that are frenzied and crazy talk about. I believe it's the confusion, of the key doctrines of salvation, and the key points. I think that's at the, that's involved in that. It's not about worshiping demons, it's far more subtle, than just worship a demon, that's a doctrine of demons. Those, they obscure the doctrines, the key doctrines of the faith. And they lead to people, if embraced, hindering them from salvation, or causing them to fall away. That's my opinion. Roman numeral three. There's two stages, in Satan's end time plan. Two stages. Satan wants to be, worshiped by all the nations. And he has two stages, on being worshiped by the nations. Says clearly in the book of Revelation, that's what he's after. Revelation 13, I have the verse there. Satan knows, it's too big of a step, for compromising Christians, or compromising Muslims, or Hindus, or all the religions of the world. I'm just saying those are the big ones. And you could add any religion you want there. He knows it's too big of a step, to get a compromising Christian, or Hindu, or Muslim, just to deny their religious heritage, and just worship demons. That's way too big of a step, as one, you know, like, deny your faith, worship Satan. They go, no, no, we're not going to do that. It's too big. So what he's going to do, in my opinion, he's going to first raise up a worldwide religion, that the Bible refers to as the harlot. And it will be a religion of tolerance, that has no absolutes. It will declare that all paths, lead to God and salvation. That everything is equal. And then compromising Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and all the other world religions. They will adopt that religion of tolerance, with no absolutes. Their conscience will get weakened, and defiled in that context. Then, he will bring to them, the demon worship, the Satan worship concept. I don't think they'll go from compromising, to demon worship. They'll go from compromising, to embracing a religion of tolerance. And again, we're seeing that, in the very early stages of it, all over the world. This new tolerance, in the cultural wars. And many believers, are embracing it, and a lot of other believers, are suspiciously silent. They're not embracing it, but they're not taking a stand, in any way whatsoever. They're just going silent. And that doesn't mean they will embrace it, but not taking a stand, on some of the important subjects, and just keeping everything positive, is a way to condition the people, to begin to embrace that religion of tolerance, with no absolutes. That every path is right. Paragraph C. So what I believe will happen first, Paragraph C is the voluntary, harlot religion. That religion of tolerance. I think it will be more formalized. Right now it's quite informal. I'm assuming it will be formalized. And it will be a real religious system, across the world, that everybody will be urged to participate. And then it will be replaced, by a mandatory anti-Christ system. The voluntary harlot system. Come if you will, see the prosperity. Involve yourself in the great justice movements. See world unity, peace, world peace. Don't worry about Jesus. Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, they all are the same. Confucius, they're all the same. Come as you will, and enjoy the world celebration. And that's voluntary. People get to choose to do that or not. But once, that will go for a while. And then that system will be discarded. It will be discarded. You'll see in a moment. It will be thrown away. Then there will only be one system. It won't be voluntary. It will be mandatory. It will be a forced system. And anyone that resists that, they will resist it at the threat of physical death. That there will be legislation in the nations, to kill anybody who resists the anti-Christ worship system. And I am convinced, the church will be here in that hour. And the church will be the faithful witnesses of Jesus. And it will be the greatest revival, with signs and wonders and power, of any time ever in history, going on at that time. But it will be tremendous bloodshed, and tremendous conflict going on as well. Top of page 3. Before the angel shows John. Again, we're only looking at verses 1 to 6. Before the angel showed John the wealth, and the glory, the counterfeit beauty of the harlot religion, which we're going to see before that's unveiled. First, he wanted to show him the inevitable judgment, and sure defeat of it. So he starts off, he's going to paint this glorious picture in the flesh, to the carnal eye of this world movement. But he says in verse 1, let me tell you, before I tell you how glorious it will look, let me tell you. I'll show you, verse 1, the judgment of the harlot, who sits on many waters. He goes, let me tell you, this harlot, though she'll emerge on a global scene with a certain grandeur, and a certain splendor, according to the flesh, she will be inevitably judged. So I like that the angel said, John, don't tell the saints, write it down, not to waver in that moment, because this system will not survive, that's going to be so seductive. It will be destroyed. In a short amount of time. Verse 1, come, I will show you the judgment of the harlot, who sits on many waters. Now you say, what are the waters? We find in verse 15, the angel said, oh, just so you know, the waters mean the nations of the earth. So the angel describes the symbolism to us, so there's no guessing that she sits on many waters. She said, this system, let me tell you about it, the kings of the earth will commit fornication with this system, the harlot. But it's not just the political leaders of the earth commit fornication, the inhabitants of the earth, they will be happy participants, they will be drunk, they will be intoxicated with all of her perversions. The kings commit fornication with this system, but the inhabitants of the earth will be, again, happy participants, being intoxicated, made drunk, with all the perversions and all of the dark things that go along with this system. Then he goes on, he says, well, let me tell you about this harlot. Verse 3, I saw it, it's like a woman. Now this is a symbol. And this harlot is sitting on a scarlet beast, which is clearly the antichrist. The harlot is riding on the antichrist. The antichrist will carry her along for a while. So they'll be in partnership on the front end. Now look at verse 4. We see the glory, the apparent counterfeit glory, the apparent beauty. It's a counterfeit beauty. Look at it, verse 4. The woman will be arrayed in purple. She will have a royal status around the earth. She'll be adorned with gold, the wealthiest religion in history, adorned with gold in every way. And having in her hand will be a golden cup. In that cup, she will appear to be a service to the nations. She will be involved in humanitarian aid. She'll be serving the nations of the earth. But the angel said, don't be deceived by that golden cup, that justice movement that's using money for the good of mankind. It is full of abominations and it's filled with filth. Completely filthy. It's not true. It's not what it appears on the front end. So verse 4 tells us the grandeur of this false system. The apparent grandeur. Verse 5. Then the angel tells John, he says, notice on her forehead is her name, because her name will describe her nature, how she functions, her origin, what she's like. That's what the name means. It's a mysterious name. It's a name that nobody could have put together by reading the Bible before it was revealed. Before the angel revealed it in the will of God, no apostle or prophet could have figured this thing out. That's why it's called mysterious. It's a mystery name, meaning it's one that could not be figured out minus divine revelation, which is right here in verse 5. And John was the first to see it. That this religion actually is Babylon. He says its origin is the Tower of Babel, the first organized religion in the earth. Go back to Babel and you will understand this religion. John, I can imagine going, really? Who would have thought? It traces back to there that we studied the Tower of Babel and what happened in Genesis 6 in order to gain insight into the nature and the function and the spirit of which this global religion will operate in. Then he says, but I warn you, I warn you this mysterious religion is more than a religion. She's cruel, verse 6. The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints because the saints will be present on the earth when she's there, when this religion's there, and the saints will be exposing her as false and demonic and she will be using her gold, her royal status, as a raid in purple with the kings of the earth backing her up like David said in Psalm 2. All the kings of the earth, David said in Psalm 2, will be in unity, all the kings of the earth, against the Lord and His Christ. And all the kings of the earth will be in unity, supporting and committing fornication with this system. Paragraph B. She sits on many waters. She will have authority over the nations. This religion will sit on many waters, that means she'll have authority over nations. That's what it means to sit on the waters because the waters clearly in verse 15 talk about the nations of the earth. She will have authority over the nations by seducing the world's most powerful leaders, the kings and the merchants. That's what chapter 18 makes clear. It's the wealthiest men and women, the ones with the most money, and the ones with the most political authority, kings and merchants. The money and the political systems will back her up. Again, that's what David said in Psalm 2. All the kings of the earth will gather together, they will plot, in order to war against the Lord and His Christ. Now in paragraph C, it says, I have written here, the kings of the earth will commit fornication. Now in what sense will the kings commit fornication? Because it's a system. Here's how I understand it. They will understand the lies behind the scenes of what she's presenting. The top leaders of the earth, the kings of the earth, they will understand most of it is a facade and a lie. Like I think of the Hitler regime that I've compared the anti-Christ regime to a part. I mean anti-Christ will be far more powerful than Hitler. But the Hitler regime, that the public presentation was so different than what they were doing in private. They were slaughtering the Jews in private and presenting themselves as a peace loving nation. That's what they were trying to do at various times. Those kinds of opposites were going on. They were aggressors and taking over nations and plotting to take over Poland and France and Russia. But on the front end they were presenting themselves as peace loving and good will. But the kings, the top leaders knew it was a lie. And so what John is saying, the kings know it's a lie. The people don't. They're legitimately deceived. They think it's amazing. They don't know it's a lie. The kings for favor, for economic favor, billions of dollars undoubtedly or whatever. I don't know the amount. But for incredible economic wealth they will sell their country out in order to get the wealth and the power and the prestige knowing it's a lie. In that sense they are prostituting themselves and selling out their people for their own gain for it. So in that sense they will do that. And again David picks up on that in Psalm chapter 2. The peoples, now they're legitimately deceived. They think it's true. They will be drunk. The harlot systems will cause the nations to be drunk or intoxicated with her promises. The nations will be intoxicated just like Nazi Germany was intoxicated with the prosperity of Adolf Hitler in the early days of his reign. Did you know that Time Magazine, I believe it was Time Magazine, maybe it was one of the other ones, but I think it was Time Magazine, 1935 Hitler was the man of the year because he had such a dynamic economic recovery in Germany. He was the man of the year. One of the most evil men that ever lived on the earth was called the man of the year. And the nations were all thinking he was amazing, most of them except for Churchill. Churchill never believed it. There you go Nick, you can smile now. Okay, paragraph 8. This beast will, I mean this harlot will be sitting on the beast. It says in verse 3, I saw the woman sitting on a beast. To sit on the beast meant that she'll be dependent on the Antichrist for a season. There'll be this relationship, I don't know exactly what it will look like, but there'll be this sense of dependency. She will need the Antichrist, and the Antichrist will need her. But then after a season, the Antichrist will discard her and burn her. The one who destroys the harlot Babylon, because she has two destructions, the one who destroys her first is actually the Antichrist and his ten kings. We'll look at that in a minute, which is so surprising. So she sits on the beast, the Antichrist, but the Antichrist is also described, paragraph E, as carrying her or providing significant resource for her. So the Antichrist, she's dependent on him, she's sitting on him, but the Antichrist is carrying her, he's providing for her as well. So there is going to be an observable relationship between this religion and this man. My understanding is it's before the Antichrist is seen in fullness on a world stage as being the Antichrist. It's the stage before he's fully unveiled and it's clear. Paragraph F, she'll be arrayed in purple. This speaks of her royal status, her prominence. Paragraph G, she'll be adorned with gold. She'll be the wealthiest religious network in history. H, she'll have a golden cup, which she serves the nations. She serves unprecedented humanitarian works. Her service will appear golden, glorious, amazing. One of the fruits of all that will be happening that's deceptive, there'll be many involved in this in a way that I can't figure out the details of it. I don't understand all the details, but Paul talked about it. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he prophesied, there'll be a temporary world peace. They will say peace and safety. And then suddenly the great tribulation comes. Before the great destruction happens, the nations related to the harlot Babylon, they will be proclaiming her peace and safety. They'll be saying there's political peace, no more war and safety. The terrorism thing, the global economic collapse, there's safety and there's peace without war, but it will be a very short-lived temporary peace, but it will seduce the nations to believe this system is working. Paul says don't buy it when you see it. The economic recovery, terrorism is stopped, wars are all set, the peace treaties, everybody's happy. World peace, prosperity, and then believers, faithful witnesses are saying it's of the devil, it's of the devil. They're saying what do you Christians want? You pray for unity for years, you finally get it, and you call it the devil. I mean this is really going to be politically incorrect, but it will lead to the purification of the church and the greatest revival in history. It's planned. The Lord is allowing it to unfold this way. Top of page 4. He says this cup, paragraph I, will be full of abomination and filth. Top of page 4. The cup of service, the humanitarian service, because with the cup she's serving the nations. The abominations refer to being associated with demonic activity. The concept of abominations connects with the demonic activity, but it will be more than demonic, it will be filthy. Filthiness points to moral perversion. There will be moral perversion and demonic activity at a level that I don't think that we can grasp or we can predict. Paragraph K. Daniel talked about the time of the harlot Babylon system. He says Daniel 8, verse 23, in the latter time of their kingdom when sin or transgression reaches fullness. There's a time in history where sin will reach its fullness. Sin globally will reach its fullness. At that time, the Antichrist will arise. And so it's not like the Antichrist ushers it in himself. He arises in the environment of where sin has reached its fullness. And I believe the context is the harlot Babylon, which is before the Antichrist is identified as that primary leader on the global stage. Paragraph L. I believe this is the time frame. This is not the only time frame, but it's part of the time frame that Jesus was referring to in Matthew chapter 24. He says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation. They will kill you. You will be hated, etc. Then, you see, the church is going to expose the harlot for who she is. And someone says, I'll do it. Well, don't wait until the harlot is exposed. Stand for truth now. If you stand for truth, the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage, the sanctity of sex, the one way of salvation, the truth of the gospel of grace that leads to radical obedience, you will already be shouted down by many, not most, but many in the church will call you false and inerrant, etc. So stand now. Don't wait. Say, well, I'd stand if it was there. Well, stand now then. You get in a conversation, and the subject of the judgments of God, or the subject of hell, the subject of gay rights, and all the moral perversion that's exploding in the nations, and Christians become incredibly silent in the marketplace with their friends, like, well, you know, the Lord knows. What do you mean the Lord knows? You know what the Word says. Well, I'm waiting for an opportunity. Well, you know, I just didn't feel the witness of the Spirit. Maybe that's really true. I mean, that really can be true, but I'm saying we can talk ourselves out of standing for decades, imagining that if these things ever happened in our day, we would stand. Well, stand now then. It says that then they will be hated by all the nations, what Jesus said. When the church declares the seductive nature and the perversion, but more than the perversion of this system of toleration, her ultimate sure judgment. So you could call her perverse, and they'll say, well, you're just all mixed up, and you're intolerant. You say she's going to come under the judgment of God, then you're cruel. But it's what the Scripture says. But we need to say it in tenderness, so we need to say it with tears in our eyes. But this is where it's going. But the Lord's going to, this is part of the storyline where the Lord's going to equip His church to stand in that day. Paragraph M. Surprisingly, the harlot religion will be hated and destroyed by the jealousy of the ten kings closest to the Antichrist. When I first read this some time ago, years ago, it says in verse 16, the ten horns, the ten kings, they're the ones that burn the harlot. I go, wait a second, why would the Antichrist burn the harlot? I thought he liked the harlot. Because he's going to get rid of her, the religion of toleration, and replace it with a religion of no toleration, Antichrist worship, where you will be killed if you don't do it His way. Her way is only a temporary scene to be a forerunner, it's the devil's, it's Satan's forerunner to the Antichrist system. Paragraph N, in the midst of the final seven, in the middle of the seven final years, that's my opinion is when this will happen, the harlot Babylon religion of tolerance will be replaced by the Antichrist worship, which will be very strict religion. Okay, Roman Numeral 5, we're at verse 5, so we get to this idea on her forehead is her name, and her name gives the insight as to her nature, her origin, the spirit she operates in. The angel says, John now, I'm just making this up, of course, John is going to surprise you this harlot, this end time harlot religion actually has its roots in the Tower of Babel. That's what he's saying in essence. And John, you know, I'm just imagining, he goes, really? He goes, that's it? Matter of fact, that harlot's been functioning throughout history, but not on the prominent global level at the measure it's going to in the generation the Lord returns. Paragraph B says that Babylon the Great is the mother of all the other false religions. She's the mother of all the other false doctrines, all the world religions. Paragraph B, the mother will be the harlot or the source. She's the source of false religions over the last 6,000 years approximately since the Tower of Babel or approximately 6,000, something like that. I mean, it's a little bit short of that is what some say. Top of page 5, it goes in verse 6, very I didn't read it at the end of page 5, but I'll just say it to you again. Verse 6 it says that the harlot, the woman will be drunk with the blood of the saints. She will have a murderous heart, paragraph C, even despite her humanitarian appearances. The more she kills, the bolder she will become in killing. She'll be drunk. She'll be intoxicated. Intoxicated means in this context, my opinion, intoxicated means the more she does it, the bolder she will get. And the more bloodlust she will have. Paragraph D, Babylon the Great is her name. In other words her origin was in Babylon and the origin of Babylon is the Tower of Babel. That's where Babylon started. And that's where the first in the city of Babel was the first world religion. Organized religion and the first organized rebellion against God was there. Roman numeral 6. The residents of the Tower of Babel, Roman numeral 6, the Tower of Babel. The residents of Babel sought to build a tower. Now here's the key part to understanding the Tower of Babel. It's this phrase they wanted to build a tower whose top was in the heavens. That's the key phrase. I think that's often misunderstood. The top was in the heavens. I believe what that means is they wanted to build a tower that would reach into the spirit realm. They're not talking I don't believe at all the stories talking about that mud bricks were assembled, used, and the building got so high like 10 stories that God went oh no with brick mud bricks this is threatening to me. I'm going to judge them. They're up to 10 stories. They could get to 20 stories in the next thousand years. God wasn't talking about the architectural structure when it's at the top of the heavens. I believe it's talking about the realm of the spirit that they had a organized evil that they would have a synergism in evil that if they stayed together they would advance in evil and the realm of the demonic faster than God wanted them to because God had an end time plan and a plan for history and he only wanted it to come to fullness and the generation his son would return and so he stopped them and scattered them and I believe that what he was doing was hindering their synergism and progression in evil not their architectural pursuits top of middle five he says in paragraph in paragraph B verse 6 he goes nothing will be impossible for them and what I believe that means is nothing in terms of their unity in sin perversion accessing the realm of the demonic that's what I believe I don't believe he's talking about the space race or architectural pursuits that's not what he's talking about he says if they enter into this realm of the spirit there is no there's nothing they won't do in perversion and that will be the heart of Babylon they will go to the fullness transgression will reach its fullness paragraph D Jacob had a dream and in the dream he saw a ladder you can read right there in Genesis 12 28 the ladder reached its top in the heavens that's the same phrase the same phrase he's not talking about a ladder going 10 stories or maybe 20 stories we're not talking about the length of a natural ladder we're talking about it reached into the heavenly realm the top of the heavens means the heavenly realm top of page 6 so before Jesus returns the Genesis 6 Tower of Babel days of Noah dilemma is going to happen because in Genesis 6 the whole thing that was happening in Moses' day I mean Noah's day is back in Genesis 6 where wickedness reached its highest level you can read that and I believe that the harlot Babylon will reach the same levels and go beyond the Genesis 6 I think I've been saying Genesis 6 throughout the whole message the Tower of Babel is Genesis 11 I'm just remembering I've been saying it wrong that it's the violence and perversion of Genesis 6 and the dynamics of Genesis 11 brought together in the harlot Babylon that's just a point of clarification let's just bring this to an end here Roman Numeral 7 in the end times there will be a battle for the truth about Jesus that's again what David said in Psalm 2 there will be a great battle on the truth about Jesus the kings of the earth will gather together and they will be against the Lord and his Christ they will plot and scheme in unity together in order to overthrow the truth of Jesus in the earth to resist it and to defame it and of course that's what's happening right now paragraph C the body of Christ is to greatly because it's a I'm skipping the part where we said it's a religion of tolerance and tolerance is a very clever word because we do want to tolerate in the sense of giving people liberty to have the values they want and to have dignity as a human being with certain values we give them, we honor their dignity even though they have different beliefs and different values because they're human so paragraph C, the body of Christ is to greatly value people of all faiths like I love people that are involved in homosexual activity, I love them I love people involved in false religions they're human beings of incredible value I don't look at people that have different values and say oh you're worthless, I say no you're so valuable I'm going to tell you the truth that's how much I care about you and I'll even bear you being mad at me because that's how valuable you are and some kind of the rhetoric of the day has made tolerance the acceptance of their dignity and their intrinsic value as applauding their value system rather than applauding their value as a human being so I can applaud the value of a homosexual lifestyle I mean of the person and not at all applaud the value system that they embrace but I really applaud the value of the people I can see a man in a false religion and totally value that man or that woman but not value their doctrines but value them with great enough to serve them and pour myself out to in tenderness and love because they're so important to the Lord I have paragraph D here truth that are offending the humanistic mindset which will all flow into the heart of Babylon one day in the days ahead in the future we don't know how long it might be a ways down the road it may not be who knows the deity of Jesus we believe in the deity of Jesus Jesus is God he's fully man and as God he has the right to define morality and he has a right to hold all the nations accountable to the morality he defines he has full rights to do that that really makes people mad Jesus number two is the only way of salvation there is no other way of salvation besides him because he's the only one that was innocent he took the role of the guilty he took our sin and our judgment he paid for our sin there's no other religious leader or religion that has an innocent man who paid for the sin of the guilty paragraph three he's the only one that possesses the love and the wisdom to judge he judges in time and eternity he has full rights to judge because he's the only one with enough wisdom and love to qualify to be judged so paragraph E many are resisting truths about Jesus don't be intimidated regardless if they're famous people who work in the white house famous people who host talk shows famous people who fill stadiums with concerts or famous people that lead mega churches don't be intimidated by lies we are to be faithful witnesses I mean the body of Christ across the earth I mean millions of believers across the earth are called to be faithful witnesses paragraph F the church the end time church will steward the greatest hope and justice movement in history some say this humanistic movement is filled with hope and justice no the greatest hope movement and justice movement in history is the one under Jesus' leadership amen and amen