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How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying,
Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
Isaiah 14:12-17
The term "New World Order" is tossed about rather freely these days; I too make use of it liberally throughout the pages of this book. Yet, it is really a concept that remains pretty amorphous and abstract for most of us.
On the basis of what I have studied and been able to learn about the usual secular application of the term, images are conjured up in my mind of a global system — political, economic and sociological — wherein the numerous things that divide people into competing and conflictive groups will one day be conquered and dissolved. The ostensible objective, as I gather, seems to be that of a unified international order of cooperation and peace; which all sounds quite nice on the surface. But what if the goal of the globalists, or whoever is engineering this trendy concept, is different than what it appears? What if there lies something horribly insidious at the roots of all the talk of the New World Order?
Well, perhaps the Prophets may be able to help dispel some confusion on this score. Part of the purposeful ploy of the Dark Force (identified in last chapter) is to create enough confusion — that is, maintain enough obscurity — so as to strip the bewildered masses of Earth of any rational defense against what can otherwise be discerned as a Satanic Strategy of domination. It's an age-old tactic to effectively paralyze and disable victims into a position of utter vulnerability, leaving them easily overwhelmed and at the manipulative mercy of the cunning strategist. But to simplify the New World Order concept, hopefully, let us consider the three basic World Orders spoken of by the Hebrew prophets we've undertaken to study.
Zion & the New World Order Paradox
First, the ultimate and supreme world
order at the hub of all Hebrew history and tradition, both past and future,
is the World Order of Zion, the "darling virgin" of YHWH
(
).
According to all their prophets, at the end of the age of cursed man, this
order is to finally prevail on earth over all other dominions, under the
rule of the Almighty Prince of Peace, the Anointed One of God the Father;
we previewed this in the last chapter. However, the Hebrew prophets spoke
definitively about two other global establishments vying for domination in
the transcendant scheme of world history. John the Revelator in particular,
writer of the Apocalyse, nailed the three competitors down for critical review
and analysis. He also concurred with his antecedant Hebrew colleagues that
New Jerusalem, the mated Bride of Messiah (allegorically speaking), would
constitute the ultimate (and genuinely New) World Order of all Earth, with
Zion as its capital.
John speaks eloquently of this Bride in several chapters of Revelation (12, 20-22, and briefly in 19). In chapter 12, she is seen as a great heavenly wonder — a pregnant woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. Then, moving from allegory to real substance, we see in the later chapters that he attempts to describe an actual civilization.
In its final form, this civilization he described, the "great holy city" where God Himself dwells, eventually requires a remake or refabrication of the earth to accommodate it, with a huge bejeweled (pyramidal?) city as its centerpiece.1 This city, called New Jerusalem, is a superstructure made of transparent gold, lying 1400 miles square, and 1400 high on a side. (Probably of the same geometric design mimicked in the great pyramids of Egypt.) The very last page of the Bible, in the very last chapter describing this city, records an open invitation to all humanity to immigrate to this magnificent heavenly civilization, an entirely new world order:
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. --Revelation 22:17
Aside from the fabulous superstructure that houses this civilization, the major focus in these chapters of the Apocalypse noted above is on the people and personalities who make it up, and the nature of its culture. The rather mysterious characterization and personification of it as a living entity — a woman and bride wedded to God Himself — stresses the nature of it as a knit-together unit of personalities loving and caring for one another with intimate, interdependent, intersustaining, mutually serving interrelations. God serves us, we serve Him, and all serve each other in love in the worship of the God of Love (Who is the Temple in this city without a temple).2 At last, His righteous Will is realized and accomplished in all its fullness, glory and purity by willing humans brought into Oneness.3
Nevertheless, during this secular age of earth before her ultimate triumph, the Bride is persecuted and warred against, as John relates so graphically throughout the Apocalypse. This occurs with particular severity during the last 1260 days of oppressive beastly history noted in chapter 12 and 13 of the Revelation. During those last three-and-a-half years, the world order of The Beast — the basic, underlying arch-competitor of this divine order called the Bride of Christ and New Jerusalem — desperately attempts to completely crush and obliterate the essential elements of the Messiah's kingdom; namely, the living stones of New Jerusalem.4
Though the success of this beastly world order (already on our horizon) will be sweeping in the short run, it is nonetheless limited, and its efforts futile in the long run. Ultimately, it meets its own crushing devastation in an all-out war of the worlds as it attempts to engage Almighty God with its 21st century weaponry at the battle of Armageddon, intending to prevent the establishment of the world order of Christ and His Bride.
The Beast is a term applied in the Apocalypse and elsewhere in the Holy Scriptures to an ungodly entity that is fundamentally inhuman; and thus, menacing, without conscience, and driven by baser motivations and lusts of an essentially animal character. (In biblical terms, or spiritually speaking, individual people who forsake godliness to be driven by base natural lusts are also called beasts.)5
Prophetically, the term is applied to three key entities: (1) the coming Antichrist (as the son of perdition, son of Satan, and final demagogue-turned-autocrat of Earth's last world empire); (2) the spirit of evil itself (Satan, formerly Lucifer, the Serpent, the Dragon, the Destroyer, Apollyon, Abaddon, the Devil); and finally, in terms of material manifestation on earth, (3) the iniquitous political world order of Satan (manifest in various eras throughout history by the hegemonies of the assorted world empires that have arisen to exert their ungodly power and influence over mankind).
All together in complement, these beasts are referred to in the Apocalypse by the crowning title of the "Great Red Dragon" having seven blasphemous, crowned heads, the last of which finally sprouts ten horns. The heads are symbolic of the seven major world empires. This includes the ultimate formation of the seventh and final world empire, a coalition of 10 endtime nations under the beastly political leadership of the Antichrist, next to arise. The spiritual leadership, inspiration and power embodied throughout it all is that of Lucifer himself. It is in chapter 12 (and in 13) of the book of Revelation that John introduces us to the world order of "the Devil" in his figurative description of a "great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads." (Rev.12:3)
As mentioned a bit earlier, it is in this chapter of the Apocalypse that the arch-rivalry and fundamental war between good and evil is typified in the persecutory hostility of the Dragon against the Bride. The world order of the Dragon has continually strived to defeat the establishment of the Kingdom and Will of God on earth. This was the central aim of the Devil in masterminding the assassination of its crucified King; and has likewise been his key purpose in directing the age-old, on-going campaign to destroy the Bride (those devoted to taking up their own crosses daily in loyalty to their King and His coming world order). Chapter 13 of Revelation goes into even more dire detail about the Dragon's relentless endtime war on the saints and against God.
This mysterious dragon continually metamorphoses throughout history, manifesting himself by serially raising each one of his various heads defiantly decked with names of blasphemy. From the Pharaohs to the Caesars, the sovereigns of these grand empires assumed unto themselves the status of living gods.
At the last, the Dragon's final head sprouts ten horns each bearing a crown (symbolizing ten endtime nations) which bestow all their political authority and military and economic might unto The Beast (earthly offspring of the Dragon). This beast (the "son of perdition") will be the "incarnation" of the ever-so-subtle Serpent who promised Godhead to Adam and Eve back in the beginning; this time the same blasphemous promise will be to all of 21st century humanity on a worldwide scale. How will he achieve this global hoax and hoodwinking of the last generation? By luring it around his own powerful, internationally exalted person and the high-science apparatus of the "living image" to be made in his likeness, which everyone will ultimately be obliged to worship!
The highly alluring (& captivating) tactic to be employed in the ensnaring of the world into this new order of the Beast will be vicarious greatness. This is the trusty lure that so easily captures the affections of nearly all of us simple folks — greatness by association. It's the "I-touched-him" or "I-know-him" syndrome — the same complex that makes people feel special about shaking a president's hand or being photographed with him; about being personally invited to an "attended" fundraiser or to the White House, or perhaps being selected as an intern; like the special honor of receiving a presidential award, or otherwise rubbing elbows with high dignities. People are always quick to hitch their wagons to a rising star, if it means they too might somehow be carried to new heights by association with the star. Thus, by joining together to serve, worship, and glorify the Beast, we thereby glorify ourselves. (More on this in later chapters, esp. 6, 9 & 10.)
The entire 13th chapter of Revelation is dedicated to this Beast and the details of his new world order, which will involve a lofty hitlerian-style allure eventually ratcheted up into a regime of severe neo-fascism. According to the prophet Daniel, predecessor of John by 600 years, three of the final ten governments that comprise the core "axis powers" of this new world order will be overrun and forcibly reined into the camp of the Beast. Great cunning and might (and magic) characterize this coming, dreadful "fourth Reich" under an all-new, crowing bestial "führer" of wonders.
Key passages in chapter 17 and 19 of Revelation provide additional detail about this global government and its marvellous leader. Essentially, this human Beast literally incarnates and epitomizes the age-old ambition of Satan to be God. And at the last, though only very briefly, the Devil actually achieves this counterfeit status for a 42-month period as the Premier of the Worldwide Secular Order of Planet Earth (the pinnacle accomplishment of the great scarlet serpent, who is the actual dynamic power working in and through this anti-Christ).
As stated above, complimentary prophecies dealing with this Antichrist are given both in the Apocalypse and in the book of Daniel. Six hundred years before John, Daniel recorded revelations about this blasphemous beast in passages of chapters 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12 of his book. The apostle Paul too, in the time of John, also contributed some key detail to the profile. But it was Jesus who drew the focus on this "abomination" as an especially significant sign that would mark the beginning of the end. Pointing us back to read about the "abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet," (Mat.24:15) He indicated three-and-a-half years of Great Tribulation would prevail under the world order of the Beast just prior His own coming at the end of the age. The reading of Daniel and also of Revelation establishes this conclusion, among other important features of the future.
The sum of these oracles, however, according to a careful reading of them and contrary to the superstitious surmisings of the great majority of fundamentalist and other Christian Bible prophecy "experts," does not add up to the uniting of all the world's religions under this dragonish new order, as the experts imagine, at least not for long. Rather, it will be the abolishing of all religions and the institution of the global adoration of only one god! That god, the Prophets have said, will be a man — empowered and begotten of Satan — through whom the Devil accomplishes his age-old ambition to dethrone YHWH (Yahweh) and take His place.
A new age is indeed about to spring forth for "a little season" in which self-adoring Lucifer will finally be able take his "rightful" place as the author of a better planetary ideology. By his new standard, YHWH (of the Bible) shall be debased as a "vain, tyrannical, uncaring egotist," undeserving of the "superstitious" worship of humans, and publically demoted to His "proper place" as "just another" of the many gods of ancient "mythology." The objective of this blasphemous Luciferian ideology is to completely demerit YHWH; thereby, the Devil can then advance his own candidacy as God of Earth and achieve his long-desired goal to be acknowledged as the Most High and Mighty One!6 His campaign for this office will flatteringly lure egotistical humans to join the Devil in his new credo — the worship of Me!
Once inaugurated, the Wicked Imam will wield untold forms of power of which we can only now speculate (and do, in later chapters). Nothwithstanding his own uncanny powers and might, he will encounter nearly invincible opposition in the form of two endtime prophets of GOD who arise on YHWH's behalf.
Empowered by GOD, this world renowned duo of YHWH will command the powers of nature to combat and counter the agenda of the Beast who will be unable to squelch the evidence and power of their witness until the very end. Efforts by the Beast to assassinate them will meet with no success until the last few days before the zero hour. Their defense against attackers will be some form of heat flash, energy beam, or fireball "spoken" from their mouths at the speed of thought, which literally consumes would-be assassins. After 42 months of their challenge to his regime, the Antichrist finally overcomes and kills them, only to shortly have to face the One whom they served. The awsome spiritual and technological might of the Beast will be a pathetic candle flame in a hurricane when he next meets the Almighty!
In the face of the troublesome witness of YHWH's phenomenal "flame-throwing" duo, the Antichrist will convince the people of earth that Jah is nothing more than a rogue, hostile extraterrestrial bent on the forceful takeover of Earth. The Beast will persuade the world that they must join him and his planetary liberation front in solidarity against the subjugation of humanity to a hostile alien empire where, by his measure, individual sovereignty and "human rights and freedoms must be relinquished to the tyranny of YHWH."7 The two witnesses will finally be killed as infiltrating alien invaders.
Through all this the Antichrist will fraudulently pose as liberator and savior of planet Earth. Will he get your vote? Will you wear his mark and cultic number like Americans flaunt bumper stickers for their politicians of choice? (More on this in a later chapter, entitled "Messiah Mistake.")
New World Order of "Cinderella" — Glass Slipper of Mystery Babylon
On top of the Dragon dynamic, the Apocalypse poses the image of a "third" world order, a great and mighty, materialist city system of superpower category, both militarily, economically, and technologically. According to John, it is in this mega-metropolitan establishment that we find responsibility for the blood of prophets, saints, and "all that were slain upon the earth." This particular world order is described as a MYSTERY, a wonder, a marvel, and a great whore — THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH — succintly labeled BABYLON. Chapters 17 and 18 of the Apocalypse are dedicated to the description, analysis, and decoding of the symbolism related to this Great Whore. (Though she is 3rd in the order of our study, in worldly political terms, rather than Third World, she is the First World oppressor of the Third and due to be overthrown by them in the end.)
This whorish establishment maintains a distinctive, symbiotic relationship with the Dragon, almost until the very end of her history, when she finally meets her violent overthrow and demise. The vision of this garish woman, whom John sees in his vision riding upon the "scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns" effectively "blows" John's mind for the magnitude of the spectacle.
Though it is truly difficult to imagine exactly how awe-inspiring it must have been, nonetheless, when the encryption code is cracked, the written record still offers an awesome and even staggering perspective of our planet's socio-political dynamics. Without some familiarity with the Hebrew Scriptures, however, the symbolism can seem nothing but a mystifying abstraction of bizarre graphics. The master key to even beginning to comprehend the pictograph of these two chapters on the Great Whore lies in the writings of the TaNaKh, or as some dismissingly call it, the "Old" Testament.
An attentive student of the so-called Old Testament immediately recognizes the "encrypted" language used to describe this metropolitan system, and readily understands that whoredom is "code" language for spiritual adultery. The ancient language of love by which the Creator refers and relates to His beloved human creatures in the OT (& in the New) reveals an intense desire to maintain a devoted conjugal relationship of love with His people, as a deeply devoted husband with an equally faithful wife. In that same sense, it is explicitly pronounced in those writings that wandering from that commited relationship is an act of whorish infidelity.8
But, as with so many other ill-conceived biblical interpretations, the fundamentalist and not-so-literal Christians alike have practiced circus-worthy contortionism to attempt to make this allegorical city system fit their ill-illuminated perspectives of the world.9 Without detouring into the unprofitable maze of their various twisted interpretations, suffice it to say that, generally, most view this "great whore" as a false religious system also blended with some obvious economic prowess (as per the extensive characterization of it in chapter 18 of the Revelation). Some of the classically erroneous interpretations have even ventured to tag the Roman Catholic Church as this BABYLON.
Ironically though, even in the dark "light" of these twisted twilight interpretations — originating out of the shadowy regions of dual devotions — there can be seen the outline of a certain truth obscurely illuminated. Yet, because of the prevailing shadows of night in that region of half-heartedness and dual loyalties, the full truth is not wholly revealed; and so, creative (and often deluded) imaginations kick in and run amuck.
Honest and good hearted folk, without any self-serving agenda other than to simply seek the truth, readily recognize it in its simplicity. Even the elaborate symbolism used in the painting of the picture of this mysterious whore doesn't effectively hide it. It's easy to see that the only "religious" aspect of this super-city "which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Rev.17:18) is in the excessive materialism and obsession with mammon that pervades it. As even the faint glimmer of twilight reveals, it is indeed a system of worship that the Apocalypse is describing — the very same alternate system of devotion which Christ referred to in His "Sermon on the Mount." (Please see earlier study in opening chapter, under section entitled "20/20 Blindness.")
Christ Yeshua, in the direct manner used with His Disciples, clearly defined the world to them as a choice between only two religions (not the pantheistic variety many theologians flailing attribute to this allegory on Babylon). He identified them categorically as either that of singularly serving God (as His Bride does), or alternately, serving mammon (as the Gentile idolators do). (See Matthew 6:19-33)
Now, in terms of this domineering allegorical Whore called Babylon the Great, the question must be raised, "What is it exactly that reigns over the kings of the earth?"
The clear answer: covetousness! — the lust for wealth, power, and material glory. That, without question, is the Bible story of history and mankind's age-old, overriding obsession, as well as his basic metropolitan religion!10
Archaeology too, in its quest to uncover the civilizations of the past, reveals and confirms this truism practically above all else. The stones of history speak loudly of the tireless strivings by ancient men for self-glorification — through the construction of lush palaces, tombs, temples, hanging gardens, skyscraping towers and glamorous cities to mark their imperialist places in history.11 Each empire, striving to outdo and overrule the others, eventually left behind the grand, crumbling structures by which they all attempted to reflect, flaunt, and immortalize their glories — pyramids, palaces, pantheons, coliseums, massive stone relief works and statues, and archives detailing their military might, prowess, conquests, and spoils. The greatness of any ancient civilization always seems to be measured by their materialist achievements.
And in our own day and age, it almost goes without saying to note that nearly every contemporary society on earth measures its success against that of the greatest city system on the planet today, each of them coveting her prosperity and might.
The trademark glories of every worldly civilization, past and present, are their riches and the superstructures (buildings & cities) and armies financed by that wealth. To enlarge and defend their bottomless appetites for power, wealth, and glory — and their grand metropolises based on those greedy, materialist values — the ancient imperialists amassed and instituted blood-wringing armies and military machines. And by these armed forces, the oppressors found it profitable to conquer, victimize, and ravage other peoples, often peace-loving societies, which they "needed" to subjugate and spoil so as to finance the aggrandizement of their own nationalist glories.
This criminal barbarism was, typically, accomplished by regularly employing aggravated violence to accrue more and more wealth, territory, and ill-gotten possessions. (Native Americans and Mexicans, among numerous other indigenous peoples around the globe victimized by the Europeans, know how this agenda works.) And often, the subjugated peoples provided not only the finances and materials but also the coerced labor to build those cities and "civilizations." (In our modern world, particularly since the abolition of African-American slavery, this is done more indirectly, insidiously and deceitfully in the form of wage slavery, exploitive taxation, currency devaluations, and even more egregiously by pittance slavery in Third World sweatshops; modern agendas of economic subjugation constitute more peaceful and insidious forms of violence, known as economic violence. As the Bible says, it is possible "by peace" and "craft" to "destroy many." --Daniel 8:25)
(Now, with respect to the richest, most powerful city-system in today's world, does any of this ring familiar? If not, please read chapters 17 & 18 of Revelation provided for your convenience at the conclusion of this chapter. Perhaps you too may conclude that, "under the influence" of her wine, it can be awfully difficult, if not impossible, to discern or grasp truth.)
According to the perspective of the Hebrew prophets, materialism/covetousness has driven and corrupted mankind into idolatry since the dawn of time. The original humans, for starters, were not satisfied even in the utopian beginnings of the Garden of Eden with the joyous nakedness of being clothed solely with freedom, beauty, and glorious natural surroundings. As the account goes, they needed to accessorize; and, ashamed that their primitive skill level could only produce crude creations of fig leaves sewn together, they felt it necessary to hide themselves from the Father of nature when He stumbled onto their new entrepreneurial venture to become "as (decorated) gods."
Well, their crude beginnings to decorate themselves with the material vestments and creations of their own hands and human designs soon gave way to full blown self-adoration. It wasn't terribly long before the first child to be born to this first couple — on the now corrupted planet — developed the technology to establish the first city, and then named it after his own "spitting" image.12
To me, it becomes supremely easy to see what John the Revelator revealed in his exposé on the Great Whore, the New World Order of 20th Century BABYLON (in her epitome). "Cinderalla's glass slipper" fits her perfectly well. And, although Cinderella's "sisters" (or perhaps in this case, daughters) all covetously feign to squeeze into that shoe, it is exclusively tailored to the MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Throughout the world, all we see these days is an international, or pan-national effort to emulate the splendid success of the MOTHER metropolis — the epitome of all great city systems — except among those who "hate the whore." And even among those who regularly resist her, denounce her, demonstrate against her, and beratingly burn her flag in envious effigy, nonetheless, the lust for "the wine of her fornication" rages out of control there too as large segments of their populations crave to emulate and partake of her obscene indulgences and liberalisms.
Every nation on earth, coveting to imbide liberally of her "golden cup," seems to inexorably shackle themselves to her addictive cosmopolitanism.13
We see all nations now moving toward market-driven economies (of the supposedly "free-market" type, yet dominated by the global-class financiers); all lured by profit into "privatization" of industry (with mostly foreign investment by the merchandising giants of the world, primarily from guess-where, and with loaned foreign capital — which the ASEAN nations are finding will only enslave them to the IMF and the World Bank);14 many establishing and operating their own get-rich-quick stock markets, promoting Western-style consumerism, and aggressively pursuing the quest to trade freely with the opulent West (and perhaps one day enjoy "most-favored-nation" trading status); all increasingly arming and militarizing their countries (e.g., the alarming, new Latin-American arms race; or the African escalation; how about the Asian subcontinent nuclear race) against what—their own "freed" populations? Let us not forget to mention the nearly universal dependence and adoring adoption of Western-style medical technologies.15
And despite all the obvious signs that "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen," the credo of the Whore is that, without faded glory, she maintains her regal, superpower status; in like manner, she persistently vouches that her matrimonial "IN-GOD-WE-TRUST" covenant remains in effect; and quite deludely, she insists proudly that she is so mighty and well established that nothing can undo her...
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. --Revelation 18:7
All of the above telltale characteristics of the Great Whore are outlined by John in the Book of Revelation. And indeed, the shocking truth about this BABYLON exposed by John is more than most folks can bear, particulary First World Westerners! Their materialistic mindsets cannot even stand to contemplate its profound implications.
It so thoroughly undermines the foundations of their very lifestyles that their subconscious defense mechanisms block out any painful exposure to the brilliant spotlight of this revelation. Long accustomed to the twilight of whorish infidelity to the Divine Commitment of singularly loving God with all their heart (which they only lipservice), their darkened eyes quickly and automatically turn away at the mere glimpse of its disclosure of their two-timing adultery. Absolutely unwilling to see that they have become one with such a depraved system,(cf. footnote 13) they try to project the light of John's revelation away from themselves and upon the "false religious practices" of others, condemning others as wayward and harlotrous while regarding themselves as faithful and true.16
Caution! Taking up the spotlight of this prophetic testimony in disclosure of the Whore and her lovers is to literally hazard one's life for the sake of truth! It provokes far more wrath than taking away the bottle from the wino, the smack from the junkie, or the acetaminophen from the American (or worse yet, his oil and gasoline!). Not only can the addicts of covetousness not cope with forfeiture of their intoxicating "high," they typically oppose any deprivation of it, often in convulsive fits of withdrawal. Any who venture to confront or uncover the awful truth of BABYLON'S agenda, or to oppose it, are frequently met with severe reactionary rage and virulent violence, either blatant or covert.
Be it a lone, daring prophet, or even a whole nation who might oppose her mammonistic politics and avaricious agenda — or even a "backward" village of natives in the way of her industrial/mercantile advance — any impeding of her greedy imperialistic commercialism is to invite bloodshed and murder upon yourself. Peering behind the propaganda reveals that when they're not outright "politically-justified" military actions against "totalitarianism or communism," the killings and carnage are often the surreptitious work of her backstage henchmen, murderous marionettes who commit fornication with her...
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration [marvelled in astonishment]. . . . And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. --Revelation 17:6 & 18:24
This patent yet hidden truth is, of course, a large part of the reason why the endtime coalition of the ten nation-states under the Beast "shall hate the whore." They have witnessed and tasted firsthand of her cold-blooded conceit and cruel self-serving atrocities. Her determination to remain firmly seated in the dominant position and role of queen over all the earth compels her to engage in widespread bloodshed of the prophets who expose her, the saints who counteract and defy her agenda, and of the innocent victims of all her murderous efforts to advance that agenda "upon many waters"17— all to protect her national and egoistic international interests. All of this hidden mystery is profiled for us in plain sight, as they say, in the coded passages of the Apocalypse to which we have referred in this section.
One of the primary reasons why the obvious truth about BABYLON is not readily apparent to most Bible students has also already been studied in this and a previous chapter. It's basically a matter of (psychological) denial — unwillingness to accept the truth, because of the lifestyle adjustment it demands. In verses 4-8 of Revelation 18, John poignantly summarizes the issue, including the dreaded divine mandate and the fateful destiny of this opulent city system (and those entrenched in it), which is so unthinkable to those who so dearly love it:
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. . . . How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. --Revelation 18
In other words, just as the great majority of Jews taken into captivity in the era of the Babylonian diaspora (6th century BCE) declined to return to the promised land and opted to remain settled there—having grown so comfortable, attached, and assimilated into the whorish material paganism there—so, the subjects of today's BABYLON cannot forsake the delicious "pleasures of sin for a season." (Hebrews 11:24-27)
Only precious few can cope with the recognition that, spiritually speaking, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev.18:2), (although, one 24-hour period of TV viewing in the land of the "boob tube" will exemplify the fitting reality of this graphic description). Especially not thinkable is that "in one hour so great riches [will] come to nought"; nor is the thought that "with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and...be found no more at all." (Rev.18:21) These are considered as absolutely unthinkable and unacceptable utterances to be applied to "the greatest metropolitan establishment on earth."
"Oh, that refers to Rome, or the Vatican, or to Saddam Hussein's reconstruction of ancient Babylon in Iraq," they say. And of course, the dismissing denial prevalent among BABYLON lovers is only strengthened when they pause to contemplate the "limited" lifestyle options: I mean, all things considered, "Where would we all go...and what else would we do, if we were to come out of her?"
Well, before leaving this scandalous (and "outrageous") perspective of 20th century BABYLON—and without attempting to fully expose the awful truth of it, which would take an entire volume of its own—let us complete the profile in cursory fashion by listing the other Revelation traits of this whorish new world order that sits so oppressively upon so many peoples...
According to Revelation 17:1, she sits "upon many waters": "And [the angel] said unto [John], The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues [language groups] (Rev.17:15)...and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk ["stoned" and deluded] with the wine of her fornication [the delicious by-product of international relations with her]"; for it is with HER that "the kings of the earth have committed fornication [despite their first obligations to the welfare of their own citizens whom they consistently rip-off and defraud]" (Rev.17:2) and have also hooked their own nations on the seductive "golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." She holds the gold, and by that monetary control oppresses and rules over the international arena of humanity.
Her land is "paved with streets of gold," it is said; and she holds out the cup of "golden opportunities," the unbridled democratic freedom to wallow drunkenly in all the prosperity money can buy and also to partake of any imaginable libertarian style of life made possible thereby and contained therein. Those humanist liberties range from plain pagan hedonism to university and elementary school curriculum-promoted sodomy, to court-protected Satanism and child sacrifice at legally sanctioned clinics; let's not overlook the lucrative opportunities in the ever-growing covert black (and often only grey) market traffic in narcotics, arms and other contraband, including high technology to enemy nations, all of which has burgeoned unabatedly under liberalist "democratic" banners. ("Just don't get caught...especially invading our turf" seems to be the cardinal rule.)
Mingled among the assorted abominations swishing deep inside this filthy cup are no doubt the infamous international political and economic subversion tactics (already hinted at) used to preserve dominance, power and protected prosperity (i.e., the buying and selling of nations, and souls of men).18 After all, the paving material for those streets of gold has to come from somewhere.
Her luxurious shopping malls and department store emporiums fail for floor space to display all the fine clothing and luxurious merchandise. "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication (Rev.17:4). . . . Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!" (Rev.18:16)
The "purple and scarlet color" designation speaks of the expensive colors worn by reigning royalty in ancient times, when those dyes involved a costly production process and could only be afforded by royalty—such as the purple Roman robe used to mock the condemned "King of the Jews." Yet now, with the development of synthesized dyes by Western chemists, the land has been flooded with color. Formerly reserved for wealthy nobility, such color is now royally enjoyed by the "common folk" in a world (First World, that is) where millions live as kings and queens, princes and princesses, and where even teenagers own their own luxurious chariots, which even Solomon, Pharaoh, or Caesar would have awed at! Purple and scarlet denote the ruling dominance of the West's superpower hegemony over the kings of the earth, namely, other governments and their respective nations. (Incidentally, these colors, when study is made of "purple," are those hoisted high on banners to which much allegiance is sworn for, and which are often burned in disdain of, our allegorical Cinderella.)
Beneath the reigning whore, the dynamic force bearing up and carrying her is really the Great Red Dragon, who will, one day soon, violently turn to cast her off and devastate her: "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." (Rev.17:16-18)
The avid ambition of the Dragon to be singularly worshipped as God will compel him to abolish all other forms of devotion and idolatry, including the adulterous pursuit of the lavish prosperity, opulence, materialism, and consumerism of BABYLON. He will banish the political, cultural, and religious liberalism of this mammon-based world order from his own, and will tolerate no other gods before him—no longer even the god of mammon! From the smallest Harry Homeless to the biggest Mr. Mike Rosoft Gates, every soul on earth will be compelled to revere, venerate, adore and pay homage to the Beast of the 666.
Once the Beast successfully ravages and devastates the Whore, his audacious megalomania will soar defiantly into the heavens when finally he dares to engage the "intergalactic" Lord of all the Universe (the Lamb, turned Lion at this point). His ultimate act of self-exaltation and blasphemy, in the very last hour of the age of cursed man, will be to successfully rally the nations of Earth to join him in his heavily-armed, high-tech military resistance to the establishment of the Kingdom of Almighty God on this planet, the New Order of the Lamb: "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings..." (Rev.17:12-14) No vestige of victory against the mighty Whore, however, will transfer in the least to his grandiose challenge of the Almighty Lamb.
Even the task of overthrowing the reigning superpower of BABYLON will not be an easy one (as Saddam Hussein foolishly miscalculated). For she is described as not only "that great city" (6 times), but "Babylon, that mighty city!" (Rev.18:10) Yet, her sweeping destruction will be devastatingly swift, and leave the multinational merchants "weeping, mourning, wailing, and casting dust on their heads," or perhaps casting their heads into the dust by jumping out of their high-rise corporation and bank buildings! "...For in one hour is [her] judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more." (Rev.18:10-11) No more lucrative market for their Made-in-Korea, Made-in-Taiwan, Made-in-China, Made-in-Japan, Made-in-Thailand, Made-in-The Philippines, Made-in-Germany, Made-in-Mexico, Made-in-Malaysia, Made-in-Singapore, Made-in-Indonesia, Made-in-Brazil, Made-in-Spain, Made-in-Sri Lanka, Made-in-India, Made-in-France, Made-in-Sweden, Made-in-Italy merchandise, etc.
"The merchants...which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought." --Revelation 18:15-17
Not only do the manufacturers and merchants of all the luxurious consumer goods and other exports/imports weep and wail, but the traffickers (ocean-going freight companies, like the giant COSCO) also break down in utter anguish: "And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness [particularly labor, which is why low-cost imports are so profitable]! for in one hour is she made desolate." (Revelation 18:17-20)
Only one "Cinderella" could fit this shoe size. Suddenly, the injunction to exit from out of these sinister, bloody shoes and footsteps begins to take on keener significance. For, to linger for the sake of the delicious lifestyle she affords is to suicidally sentence oneself to the verdict of a double volume of horror and torment...
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. --Revelation 18:5-10
One hour?! Utterly burned with fire!! Transpiring in one day! Well, the advent of nuclear weapons removes the mystery from any speculation about how such sweeping destruction by fire could be accomplished so swiftly. With an enlightened understanding of the radical perspectives of the sacred Scriptures, the taste for "the wine of the wrath of her fornication" should rapidly sour for those who take the Bible seriously! The lusty appeal of Satan's lure—"all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them" —suddenly lacks its luster in the light of Revelation chapters 17 and 18, wouldn't you say?
Signpost of The Last 7 Years—The Worldwide Week of the Beast
The endtime emergence of these entities of transcendant spiritual significance—that is, these three competing world orders, each vying to become the ultimate New World Order19—is highlighted in the Scriptures by what is virtually the most important prophetic signpost of all: a great multinational peace treaty. It is at this major "crossroads" on the endtime expressway where the marker of the last 7 years is posted. This crucial signpost brings the entire history of man to a focal point and finale. At this point is where the theocratic quality of Zionism, the indulgent idolatry of liberalist Babylonism, and the anti-God Dragonism of bestial man-worship all meet in the olympic arena of peaceful global contest.
According to the prophet Daniel (c. 538 BCE), in the final (70th prophetic) week of the desolations and transgression that are determined upon the "holy city" and people of Daniel (the Jews) there shall arise a notorious "prince of the covenant" before the end of it all. This amazing leader instantly becomes world famous for the role he plays in negotiating a landmark international agreement which ostensibly results in the long-sought-after "peace with security" discussed earlier.
And he [the prince of "the covenant"] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [Hebrew "shabuwa" = 7 years]: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. --Daniel 9:27
The above verse from the book of the prophet Daniel is a very key scripture to the understanding of the nature and order of end-time events. We will revisit this passage again later to explore the depth of its implications; for indeed, in the "midst of the week" (3½ years into the last 7) he breaks the covenant, causing the renewed Jewish worship "to cease"; then the infamous "abomination" appearing in Jerusalem sends stunning shock waves of "desolation" around the world. But for the time being, permit it to be asserted that the confirmation of this covenant will be the dawn (or nightfall, more fittingly) of the coming era of the short-lived, global secular order of the Beast, as well as constitute the "baptism" or "anointing" of this bogus "Premier of Peace" who will shortly thereafter claim title to the entire world.
In answer to the persistent, desperate cries of the Godless world for peace, security and order, a preeminent demagogue, a spurious messiah, will arise to lead the world into the 21st century. This emergent world ruler, who we have already referred to in this chapter as The Beast, will be the classic wolf in sheep's clothing, to quickly turn autocratic and totalitarian. His rhetoric and guise will be advocacy of international order, morality, justice, and a new social ethic, all in the name of transcendent humanism and peace. His intent—to subjugate, dominate and ultimately glorify himself as the "supreme being"; and as such, to mandate universal worship of his personality as embodied in the electronic, 24-hour-a-day, living image made in his likeness and utilized to captivate the populations of earth by their love of technology (as our "saving grace").
According to the prophecies, this Demagogue Extraordinaire of the New Worldly Order will come in peaceably upon the wealthiest and most prosperous ("fattest," oil-laden) places of the Middle-eastern domain ("province") and achieve hegemony ("the kingdom"); and "by peace shall destroy many." (Dan.8:25)
Daniel writes, there shall arise "a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries [smooth Marxist-style promises]. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown [completely overpowered] from before him, and shall be broken [crushed—speaking of a sweeping conquest utilizing a massive acquisition of armaments by the vile prince]; yea, also [or, namely] the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches [socialist redistribution of wealth, definitely not an emirish or sultanish ideology]: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds [publicly advertise his strategy against the dominant powers], even for a time." (Daniel 11:21-24)
For the first half of the "shabuwa" spoken of in Daniel 9:27, quoted above, a sufficient state of peace and security shall be accomplished to allow for the people of Israel to re-institute daily sacrifice and offerings of the Old Testament type in Jerusalem. This will involve animals sacrificed in atonement for sin, as peace offerings, etc. Almost certainly, it will also involve a temple or tabernacle of some sort, even if temporary or provisional—and an altar, at least—on the holy site of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Islamic Dome of the Rock now rests. Imagine that possibility! If you thought that was a dead custom relegated to the annals of ancient history which you only read about, just wait and see.
At present, the tensions and conflict over the highly controversial religious claims to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount—by both Jews and Muslims—are an enormous obstacle to any such Judaic practice ever occuring under the current circumstances and prevailing political climate. An absolute political miracle must occur before the climate could change sufficiently to favor any peaceful repossession by the Jews of the Temple Mount compound, where the "daily sacrifice" would needs be centered, and over which another Arab-Israeli war is already brewing. Somehow, the prince of the covenant will successfully intervene to facilitate the resolution of the controversy of Jerusalem (by a 7-year pact). Moreover, he will do so in such a manner that the Jews will feel adequately reassured about their ancient claims to the holy site to actually revive the sacrificial ritual there soon after the implementation of the pact.
Peace and safety (security) will be the buzz words marking this historic crossroads; but only to herald a very short-lived phenomenon, unfortunately. Peace will be experienced in very transitory fashion, and only as an isolated and scattered phenomenon. For, the Red Horse of Revelation chapter 6 will gallop rough-shod from region to region fulfilling its age-old purpose of "taking peace from the earth" and causing men to "kill one another." In fact, the tragic irony of these last days is that the only thing louder than the rhetoric and cries for peace will be the noise of war.
Daniel's 70 "Week" Prophecy It is said that the understanding of the 70-week Prophecy of Daniel is the key to the understanding of all endtime prophecy. Though that is somewhat of an exaggerated statement, nonetheless, it is central to pinning down the 2520-day countdown to the zero-hour of the end of the age. The study of only four verses from Daniel chapter 9 (verses 24-27) is quite intricate and merits a deep study that is not fully presented here in this thesis due to space and the difficult but important task of keeping with the central theme. We have only touched in cursory fashion upon certain aspects of the whole prophecy. Those aspects treated by this discourse are those that focus primarily on the final 70th week of the prophecy. Apology is due for glossing over this short passage from Daniel, without an adequate explanation and analysis of the details that lead to the conclusions which support the assertions presented herein about the last "week." Many good studies from various sources all concur that the final shabuwa of Daniel's prophecy represents the concluding era of man's secular history. God willing, the complete study may be presented in a future publication. In the meantime, please avail yourself of a study already in publication which analyzes the incredible and marvelous intricacies of this passage.20 A passage which precisely predicted, more than 500 years in advance, with astonishing accuracy, the events related to the first visit of Messiah to the earth, including the exact day of His presentation to Israel as their King (April 6, 32 CE, according to certain scholarly reckonings). This amazing prophecy also incorporated the fact that he would be subsequently executed, despite His guiltlessness, in atonement for the transgressions of all humankind.
The seven-year "week" of the Beast will be the last season of the dominion of wicked man upon the earth—so wicked, in this case, that even the term "beast" hardly does him or his order justice. His first-phase appearance may be disarming as he dons his sheepy fleece of peacemaker, but the second half of the week will be bloody, tyrannical and totalitarian. His new world order will be the crown jewel of all the woes the world has ever seen!
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Though the following Revelation chapter excerpts merit much deeper study to reveal their shocking potentcy, they're provided at this point to quickly identify the establishment dynamic that has captivated the majority of the world's poplulation. For now, notice the references to consumerism, mercantilism, and opulent materialism (and the stupefying addiction to it) which, as its prominent features, mark this allegorical city system built on blood, violence, and oppression; not to mention its pervasive corruption and infestation by despicable inhabitants of morbid and predatory motivation. This conceited queen of kingdoms also believes herself to be protected and invincible...
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth. GO BACK |
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REVELATION CHAPTER 18 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls [actually bodies & perhaps body parts] of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness [labor costs & wages highest in all the world]! for in one hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. GO BACK |
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Chapter 4 Endnotes — "New World Order Options"
1 the ultimate great holy civilization of God upon Earth
Revelation 21:1-5 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Revelation 21:9-27 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs [approx. 1,400 miles, or 2,250 kilometers]. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.BACK TO TEXT
2 enter the heart of the Creator
-- "For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it."
BACK
John 17:20-23 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
4 war of annihilation of the building blocks of New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ — As follows, the persecuted woman is the Bride of Christ, also referred to as the Heavenly City, and New Jerusalem. The "woman" is a corporate concept better understood in terms of a living building made up of individual, living blocks. (First, consider the spiritual concept of the living structure specifically titled New Jerusalem in Revelation chapter 21, already provided in footnote 1...)
Ephesians 2:19-22 (Apostle Paul to the Gentile Epeshians) Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together [same spiritual building, the Bride of Christ of Revelation 21, made up of living stones, Gentiles included with Jews, with Christ as chief cornerstone] groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
1 Peter 2:5, 9-10 (Apostle Peter to the Gentiles:) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. . . . Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people. . . Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God...
Next, we see that the same woman is targeted for extermination by the Beast...
Revelation 12:13, 17 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child [the flesh-born offspring of the corporate body of devoted human lovers of God (the Jewish ekklesía, the "woman"), begotten by Yahweh's Holy Spirit through Miryam (the virgin Mary), also a building block and part of the whole "woman"]. . . . And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ [Jew and Gentile alike who endure to the end].
Revelation 13:5-8 And there was given unto [the Dragon-empowered Beast, or Anti-Christ] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months [1260 days, or 3½ years]. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints [Jew and Gentile alike], and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 20:4 ...and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years [Jew and Gentile alike].
5 human animals doing what comes naturally
2 Peter 2:9-13 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: but chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government [rule, law, authority of God]. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities [e.g., blaspheming or denouncing the Creator]. . . . These, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot [Gk. truphé, to revel in the luxuries and pleasures of the materialist world] in the day time [all their waking hours].
Jude 1:10 ...These speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
6 cast your vote for president of the New Secular Order
Daniel 11:36-39 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.
Luke 4:5-8 (The ancient Luciferian ambition) And the devil, taking [Messiah] up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (This temptation was couched among two others in the same passage that both attempted to lure Yeshua into the prideful worship of self with the taunting words, "If thou be the Son of God...")
is the short form of the name of GOD by which He identified Himself to Moses in the voice which spoke to him out of the midst of the fiery burning bush in Horeb (land of Midian). In the following quotation from the book of Exodus, translated into English by the team of translators commissioned by King James of England in their 1611 version, the Hebrew word YHWH is rendered LORD. YHWH is the "ineffable" name of GOD which is deliberately not pronounced at all by many Jews; other folks variously pronounce it as Yahweh and other times as Jehovah (Yehovah, or even Yehovih); it's often shortened to Jah as in Hallelu-Jah (Praise ye Jah!). Jews generally prefer to refer to Him as Adonai (meaning Lord), instead of using the YHWH form of GOD's name. The difficulty in pinning down the pronunciation seems to arise from the fact that the word YHWH (in Hebrew, and as we see transliterated here) contains no vowels, which is true of the entire Hebrew alphabet. Thus, the original sound of the name may have been lost in time. I, however, accept the conventional Yahweh pronunciation as close enough to the generally accepted modern verbalization of
Exodus 3:13-15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD (
8 love the Lord your God as He loves you—with a whole heart
Exodus 34:14-16 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Judges 2:17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.
Psalms 106:35-39 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works. And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them. Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring with their own inventions.
Ezekiel 6:9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
Ezekiel 23:29-30 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
Luke 11:34-35 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
10 PACRIM keeping up with the Jones'
The current Pacific Rim economic crisis dominating the daily news (Nov.-Dec. 1997), which has severely rocked financial systems worldwide and even threatens the mighty American stock market, underscores the magnitude of this religious obsession with materialist power and glory. The principal reason for the virtual collapsing of the economies of the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and now also seriously threatening Japan (2nd largest economy in the world) is the extravagant spending spree launched with borrowed money over the last couple decades or so, both by governments as well as private sector enterprises.
Additionally, rampant corruption in numerous PACRIM nations is responsible for the siphoning off of billions of dollars by lucre-crazed leaders. For example, Roh Tae-Woo, S. Korean president from 1987-1993 admitted last year (1996) to amassing $650 million in bribes while in office for favors to private sector interests. This is just one example.
Everything from outrageous, world class, high-rise office buildings (rivaling those in USA) to lucrative real estate purchases, to electronics and other manufacturing plants, were financed with borrowed money that was not adequately secured. Now the uncollectable bad debt ($1 trillion in Japan alone) has thrown the economies of these nations into a tail spin, bankrupted their financial institutions, and devastated their stock markets. All of this highlighting the age-old craze for material glory that rules over the societies of covetous men; and, that, in the case of S.E. Asia, spun completely out of control as those nations strove to compete with and outdo the MOTHER OF HARLOTS.
(Some biblical basics on covetousness:)
Jeremiah 51:13 (Speaking of Babylon, the prophet characterizes her almost identically as John in the Apocalypse:) O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
Luke 12:15 ...Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.--Christ Yeshua
Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.--Yeshua
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. --Apostle Paul
Exodus 18:21 (Wise counsel to Moses by his father-in-law for a sound system of governance and leadership:) Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens...
Psalms 119:35-37 (Prayer of the Psalmist for corruption-free direction and godly guidance:) Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
Proverbs 28:16 (Counsel of Solomon to wise leaders:) The prince that wanteth [lacks] understanding is also a great oppressor [tax-and-spend fiend]: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
Jeremiah 6:13 (The true prophet reproving his own people for their corruption:) For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely [for the "fast buck," or "violence, spoil, and oppression (vs.6-7)"].
11 "and the (metropolitan) beat goes on"
Psalm 49:11-13 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings.
12 Cain and the new alternative religion
Genesis 4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
1 Corinthians 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. --Paul Return to: "become one with depraved system"]
Matthew 5:28 I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. --Christ Yeshua
Proverb 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
15 farmakei/a (translated "sorcery") = Gk. pharmakeia = Eng. pharmaceuticals, medications, drugs
Revelation 18:21-24 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. . . . for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. —Consider that, in 1997 alone, the major daily television news programs announced the development of no less than 28 new drugs (more than one every other week), to treat everything from baldness and failing memory to obesity and wrinkles . The latest, most promising pharmceutical research and developments are in the realms of genetic manipulation techniques. November and December of 1997 saw the announcements of discoveries at UCLA and MIT that researchers expect will soon lead to the development of a pill or drug to dramatically slow the aging process. At last, by his advanced 20th century medical technologies, modern man touts himself to be on the scientific threshold of discovering the proverbial and much-sought-after "Fountain of Youth!" What is more, this research could advance dramatically with the announcement on December 26, 1997 on ABC's "Cutting Edge" segment of their daily news broadcast of a new microchip "laboratory" that incorporates micro-miniature scale, manifold "test tube" capability, promising virtual obsolescence of the conventional medical lab. Billed as a "scientific revolution —an entire medical lab on a chip," as many as 10,000 lab tests can be performed simultaneously within a single chip! One of the greatest promises of the new technology, according to the report, is in the development of new drugs to treat everything from aids to cancer. The expensive, labor-intensive tests of conventional laboratories can now be replicated in the microscopic environment of the multi-layered chip where fluids are pumped electronically through mazes of channels approximately the size of a human hair into thousands of tiny test chambers no larger than a speck of dust, all etched within the chip. (BABYLON now promises to be able to "cure it all" and heal whatever ails you, supposedly, including the inexorable process of aging —and perhaps even death, if we may stretch the logic!? Who needs God, anyway? The "Myth" will soon be abolished!)
(Unable to reconcile their love of mammon and their affection for the glory of BABYLON with the indisputable biblical sanctions against the characteristic materialism of it, hardly a single Bible prophecy "expert" dares to venture a truly objective analysis of the meaning of the above passage on the great whore quoted from the Apocalypse. To a man, almost every one turns a blind eye to the significance of this identifying feature of the Great City, merely assigning this highly prophetic item a pitifully shallow interpretation, by narrowly applying it to the (albeit) rampant abuse, traffic, and black market of illicit drugs. Whereas, there is absolutely no basis whatsoever for such a narrowly constricted application or interpretation. In fact, the repeated, severe condemnation of chemical manipulations for medical purposes—punishable by death, and called sorcery in the Scriptures—is based in the essence of that "art/science" as a form of robbing the Creator God of His own glory and sovereign right to regulate the lives and affairs of men through managing their ultimate health and well-being. Sickness and health are plainly evident in the Scriptures as divine instruments of either correction or reward for violation or cooperation with the purposes of God. Playing "God" is tantamount to blasphemy, according to the Hebrews. The strict prohibition of "sorcery" is a manifest token of the Creator's disdain for the iniquitous self-glorification of unrighteous men, who purpose to defy the course of nature, defeat the purposes of God, and to displace divine action in the lives of men with their own devices, as well as to diminish the value of all the natural remedies already made available in nature by the Hand of the Creator. It's not by narcotics and psychedelics that "all nations" are being deceived, but by the seriously erroneous notion that man, by his own sciences and technologies, can do without his dependence on the Creator, and thus impeach God from His throne to then assume that seat unto himself!)
John 3:19-21 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
17 international dominion of BABYLON
Revelation 17:15 And [the angel] saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
18 nations and souls on the market
Nahum 3:4-5 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts [feminist power struggles], that selleth nations through her whoredoms [e.g., by mega-bucks loans, other forms of capitalizing, and finally "bail-outs" of bankrupted countries and governments, as we see going on in the ASEAN region now], and families through her witchcrafts [feminist-advanced international family planning agenda, i.e., birth-rate control, meant to sew up the holes and prevent losses in the economic net of opulent Western prosperity which scorns "useless eaters" in favor of manageable slave populations able to participate in Babylonish consumerism]. Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame [all fully exposed in the end].
19 is, was, and yet to come - timelessness of spiritual dimensionalties — The realities of the foundational dimension of pre-material "matter" (i.e., spirit) form the basis of the developments which take place in the physical world; that is, the physical is a manifestation of the spiritual. Concerning our study of the 3 competing world orders—Zion (or New Jerusalem), the Beast, and the Whore—it is important to understand that these entities transcend time and are not confined to any single era in which they are manifested. However, each has a conclusive and ultimate manifestation in which it culminates with a definitive expression (or physical manifestation) on Earth. That is to say, the world orders of Zion, the Beast, and the Whore each have their ultimate fulfillments as defined, global-scale socio-political entities, or "states," on the planet. Verses of Scripture that attest to this timeless, transcendant character are provided below...
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Revelation 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (And of course, by virtue of indisputable association, "the woman...that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth" is also partaker of this transcendant quality, eventually also finding her ultimate megalopolis manifestation on earth in the endtime epitome of metropolitanism.)
20 the seventy week prophecy of
Daniel -- Please contact Koinonia House, P.O. Box D, Coeur d'Alene, ID
(USA) 83816-0347, or call 1-800-546-8731 to request a copy of Volume 6, No.
3, March 1996 issue of the Koinonia House newsletter, Personal Update
and see "The Unexpected King," by Chuck Missler. (Please be thoughtful and
consider a worthy donation to cover costs.)
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