Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / March 23, 2022 | End Times: Follow the Signs with Patty Diliberto - Session 8: The Fall of Babylon

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March 23, 2022 | End Times: Follow the Signs with Patty Diliberto - Session 8: The Fall of Babylon · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I have a really long lesson tonight.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: We have a really long lesson tonight.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: But um Jess, did you start it?
0:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, good.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: We're good.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Sam.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Sam.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: He's not here, but he's recording.
0:17
SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, I wanted to mention before we start the charts at the at the top.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: And that one's a little fuzzy because I photo I took it out of the a book, but I really like how that breaks it down and makes it a little bit easier.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: So as we go today, you can kind of uh look at that.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but let's pray and we'll get going.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Father God, thank you so much for this time tonight and for what we are going to see.
0:44
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, um I just pray that if there is something I am not supposed to say, that you would just let me not see it.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: And um, Father, just that you would be honored and glorified through what we're going to look at.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: And we just ask for your Holy Spirit to come and manifest yourself here with us and give us knowledge and insight and understanding, Lord, that we need for these end times.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: We cry out for that and thank you in advance for that.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name, amen.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Alrighty.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: The last half of the great of the tribulation is the great tribulation, right?
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh, most of us know that, and it will be the 42 months from hell, literally, all hell will break loose on the earth, and that is the bad news.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: But there is some good news before we get to that bad news, and that is that God is going to be doing amazing things during this time, during this specific time period.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: First thing that He's going to be doing, there's that chart again, is the eternal gospel is going to be preached.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Last time we were together, we saw that the 144,000 witnesses were deployed and they spread the gospel of Jesus all over, and there was a great harvest.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: And then we also saw that the two witnesses come and they prophesy for 1,260 days, and then they are murdered by Antichrist, and then God raises them from the dead, and and all of that is God alone initiates.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: God is doing all of that.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: And now we see him initiating a third proclamation of the gospel, and this involves the three angels.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: The first angel, Revelation 14, 6 through 7.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, the eternal gospel to proclaim to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: He said in a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: So that term there, fear God and worship him, is basically a call to repentance.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: Like what this angel is saying is you're following the Antichrist.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: You are following something false, turn and follow.
3:26
SPEAKER_00: That's what the word repentance means.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: It means a change of mind that leads to a change in action.
3:31
SPEAKER_00: And so he's calling them to repent and turn and worship God rather than worshiping the beast over here.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: Seriously, how committed is our God?
3:45
SPEAKER_00: Seriously.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: He's so committed to giving people an opportunity to receive Christ, to know the truth.
3:55
SPEAKER_00: It's just undeniable that he is so gracious and he's so merciful that he gives three powerful appeals: the 144,000, the two witnesses, and then this mammoth angel who is shouting out the eternal gospel.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: There is no way that they will be able to say, I didn't know.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: No way.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: And God is making sure that there's no way that they will be able to say, I didn't know.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: Then the second angel makes this pronouncement fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: This angel announces that Babylon is fallen before it actually even happens.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: But it is a surety that it is going to fall.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: And then the third angel followed them and said in a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: They will be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and the and of the Lamb.
5:08
SPEAKER_00: And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: There will be no rest, day or night, for those who worship the beast in its image, or anyone who receives the mark of its name.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe how detailed that is?
5:24
SPEAKER_00: So detailed.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: If you do this, this is what is going to happen.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Again, people will be without excuse.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: They will not be able to say, I didn't know that's what was going to happen if I took the mark of the beast.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: No, God is going to make it really plain.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: These three huge angels are shouting and making these announcements.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: God is warning the people of in such powerful, powerful ways.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: I've listened to some podcasts, and maybe you have too, but um, and and they're um pretty trusted people that I have listened to who have said that they have literally seen angels, that God has allowed them to see angels.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: And they describe them as being huge.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: I mean like half a football field or taller, high, 150 feet tall.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: They are mammoth, is what they say.
6:23
SPEAKER_00: There's no way these angels flying one after the other after the other, um, there's no way anybody's gonna miss them.
6:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is going to be such an impressive, amazing thing.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: And um again, these people will not be able to say that I didn't know.
6:44
SPEAKER_00: And then John hears this.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Then I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes, says the Spirit, they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.
6:59
SPEAKER_00: This is probably Jesus telling John that the martyrs who are going to die are going to have a unique blessing when they get to heaven.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Spirit's like, yes, amen.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna happen.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna reward them.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Don Stewart says, the final Antichrist will persecute those who have come to faith in Jesus during this period.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: They are known as the tribulation saints.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: There are two and only two people groups that the Antichrist and the false prophet persecute during the Great Tribulation Period: the Jews and the believers in Jesus Christ.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: The persecution of the Jews and Christians by the devil and his followers has been historically true and it will remain true until the end.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: And now the end comes for the people on earth.
7:52
SPEAKER_00: And it comes in the form of the seven bowls which are the wrath of God.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 15, 1.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign, seven angels with the seven last plagues, last, because with them God's wrath is completed.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: What a so sobering verse that is.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, can you even imagine?
8:18
SPEAKER_00: He made sure that the gospel was presented before he pours out his wrath.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: How gracious.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 15.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: After this I looked and I saw in heaven the temple, that is the tabernacle of the covenant law, and it was opened.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Out of the temple came the seven angels with seven the seven plagues.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: And the temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: So let's go quickly through these.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to read the verses, but the first bowl, Revelation 16 2, is upon the earth.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: And ugly, festering sores are going to come on the worshippers of the Antichrist.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: What does that remind us of?
9:23
SPEAKER_00: Egypt.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: The second bowl, Revelation 16, 3, and it's upon the seas, and it's the water turned to blood, like that of a dead person, every living thing dies.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: Again, Egypt.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: The third bowl, upon the fresh water, all the rivers and springs will be turned to blood.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: The fourth bowl, Revelation 16, 8 through 9, upon the sun, intense scorching heat on the people of the earth.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: The fifth bull, Revelation 16, 10 through 11, that's going to be upon Antichrist's kingdom, and darkness comes upon the people, and they gnaw their tongues in pain, but they refuse to repent.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Once again, Egypt.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: The sixth bull, Revelation 16, 12 through 16, is upon the river Euphrates.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: The river is dried up to make way for the armies to gather at the battle of Armageddon.
10:24
SPEAKER_00: And the seventh bowl is Revelation 16, 17 through 21, upon the air, earthquakes and hail.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne saying, It is done.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a severe earthquake.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on the earth.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: So tremendous was the quake.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed.
11:06
SPEAKER_00: God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: Every island fled away, and the mountains could not be found.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: From the sky, huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people, and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: That happens in where it says in verse 19.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: God remembered Babylon the Great, and in chapter 11, verse 8, Revelation 11, 8, that that great city is Jerusalem.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: That verse says, their bodies, the bodies of the two witnesses, will lie in the public square of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.
12:06
SPEAKER_00: Now is there any doubt that that is Jerusalem?
12:10
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why it's figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, but we know where our Lord died.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: That's going to come in more in a minute.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: I think that Jerusalem could be the city that's experiencing all of these things that we're going to look at moving forward.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: But how horrible will this be?
12:30
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we truly can't even imagine anything like this at all.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: After the seven seals and the seven trumpet judgments, which which we saw last time we were together, there's an intermission after the sixth judgment and before the seventh one.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Remember that?
12:48
SPEAKER_00: And it's in that chart, it shows that.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: But with the seven bulls, there's no intermission.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: It is just one wave after another after another after another upon the people of the earth.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that we have this reminder in Revelation 16.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: Do I have it on there?
13:13
SPEAKER_00: Okay, maybe not.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Revelation, yes, I do.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 16, 5 through 7.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, You are just in these judgments, O Holy One.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: You who are and who were, for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.
13:41
SPEAKER_00: And I heard the altar respond, Yes, Lord, God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad that we have those verses.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: When we were in heaven, we will know at some level how totally wicked, depraved, and horrible these leaders and people who have led the world astray with their evil deeds have honestly been.
14:12
SPEAKER_00: We will know, and we will know that the that all of it that is laid at their feet is well deserved, and that God is just in what He has, the judgments that He has made.
14:25
SPEAKER_00: If even half of what I have heard from the truth or community is true, God is more than just to bring about these judgments and these calamities on the people.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: And now we come to the fall of Babylon.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 17 and 18 is where we're gonna focus the rest of our time on.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus told us that the world system hated him and that it would hate us, and one of the reasons that it would hate us is because of the truth that we have and that we possess.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: The world system is described in Revelation as Mystery Babylon.
15:15
SPEAKER_00: It is several things, including a system that has always been fed and spread through the devil's lies and deceptions.
15:23
SPEAKER_00: The beginning of this world system was Satan's rebellion that got him expelled from heaven in the first place, right?
15:29
SPEAKER_00: And a third of the angels came down to the earth with him.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: And he began turning people to the dark side.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: That's just a good way to think of it.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: He turned them to the, he was Darth Vader, he turned them to the dark side.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: One of the first places that um that they did this was long ago at the Tower of Babel.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And we read about it in Genesis 11, 1 through 3, and 5 through 8.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shenars and settled there.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: They said to each other, Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: They used brick instead of stone and tar and tar for mortar.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: But they the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: The Lord said, If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: Come, let us let us go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: So the Lord scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: That is why it is called Babel.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: So the plains of Shannar is where the city of Babylon and the Tower of Babel was, and then the city of Babylon was was built right there.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: And all of this took place just before Abraham was called by God.
16:58
SPEAKER_00: Israel was not even a people group at this time because Abraham had not been called yet.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: Abraham comes from this exact spot.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: He comes from Shinar in Ur of the Chaldees.
17:13
SPEAKER_00: This is where he comes from.
17:15
SPEAKER_00: And he after after the tower, after the scattering, after all of that, that is when God calls Abraham to follow him.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: Babylon is mentioned 280 times in the Bible, more than any city except Jerusalem, and it is easily the most important pagan city that ever existed.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: Every false religion in the world can be traced back to Babylon.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: Even before they tried to build the Tower of Babel, Satan had made this area his headquarters, and he introduced idol worship with the gods there.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: The first secret societies and many of the religious practices that continue to the present day began right there.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: These false ideologies were foundational teachings for Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Gaia worship, and a host of other occult systems.
18:13
SPEAKER_00: That's where all this mess starts that Satan has done.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: It's at Babel or Babylon, where God disinherited the nations.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Remember, we've talked about that before.
18:26
SPEAKER_00: He decided that those nations were not going to be in relationship with him.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: And he um, although although they could repent, and they could turn to him.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: And there's several uh biblical examples of that happening, but the best one is Jonah and the wicked city of Nineveh, who repent and turn to God when Jonah finally gets there to witness to them.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: But um after Babel, God determined that he would begin anew with Abraham, because he needed to have a people, because he was gonna bring the Messiah.
19:07
SPEAKER_00: We don't know why God exactly decided to do it this way, but he told Abraham that all the nations on earth would be blessed through him, right?
19:17
SPEAKER_00: And that ultimately it would be the blessing of Messiah who was gonna come from his lineage.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: So disinheriting the nation sounds harsh to our ears.
19:27
SPEAKER_00: But we need to keep in mind that the people were already choosing to worship demons, gods, and doing wicked, wicked things before he even does this.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: In the unseen realm, it says, as odd as it sounds, the rest of the nations were placed under the authority of members of Yahweh's divine council.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: The other nations were assigned to Lesser Elohim, small E, as a judgment from the Most High Yahweh.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, I highly recommend The Unseen Realm.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: It's a really great and difficult book, but it's really good.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the one who would come to the earth and through his blood take back those disinherited nations.
20:22
SPEAKER_00: He came to win them back, to get them back.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And that was what the Great Commission was all about when he did it through the church.
20:30
SPEAKER_00: The fight between Satan and God's people, both the church and Israel, has continued to this day, and the battle is picking up in intensity because he knows his time is short.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: The Babylonian system is a demonic system, always has been, always will be.
20:49
SPEAKER_00: It is a demonic system that Satan has directly influenced since the beginning of time, right?
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Since the garden and afterwards.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Satan has some authority and power, but it is a limited authority and limited power, and he has used that power and authority to deceive and entrap very wealthy, influential people and rulers to do his bidding on this earth.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: Do we agree?
21:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he has.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: To the degree we don't know, but we agree.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: These are the ones who want to bring about the new world order.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: I believe, I should have prefaced that.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: I believe these are some of the ones that he wants to use to bring about the new world order.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Um that is where we are today, right?
21:42
SPEAKER_00: And because Satan knows his time is short, his activities with these evil individuals and corporations and leaders who see themselves as being above the law is more intense than ever.
21:58
SPEAKER_00: The fall of Babylon in Revelation.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 17 and 18 is a significant event in the last days.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: And it takes up two entire chapters of the book of Revelation, right?
22:10
SPEAKER_00: This background that I have just been giving you is essential to understanding, I think, what Mystery Babylon really is and represents.
22:21
SPEAKER_00: I think it's crucial that we understand that because I believe it's part of what is going on right now in our world.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: And it explains much of what we are seeing right now.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: I believe we have been very purposefully kept in the dark about many, many things, and the evil movers and shakers of the earth do not want us, the masses of humanity, to wake up and understand what we are talking about today and what others are talking about, right?
22:55
SPEAKER_00: They don't want that.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: They want to keep us in the dark right where they have had us.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: They don't want us to put these pieces together and to understand any of this.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: I think it's too late.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: I think many, many, many are waking up and they are seeing what has been happening, and they um can't hide much longer, is what I'm hoping happens.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: God is making sure that more and more people are understanding and figuring things out, right?
23:27
SPEAKER_00: He really is.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: This is, make no mistake, this is God uncovering what these people have done.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: And he's doing it for specific purposes so that we can get a clue and do something about their corruption and duplicity.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: Many have speculated over the years who Mystery Babylon is, and so here are four options.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Rome always is a suspect, and that represents the Vatican and the Pope.
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Many people have believed that it is Rome.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: I do believe that Rome is part of the end-time stuff, but I don't think that Mystery Babylon is Rome.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: I don't believe it at all.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: I have, and and I have many opinions about that, but I'm not going to show them tonight.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: Number two, option two is Babylon rebuilt.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: There are probably even more people who believe that Babylon is going to literally be rebuilt in the end times, and this will happen.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: Babylon was once one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the world, and it is it is one of the ancient wonders of the world.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Babylon's empire was defeated by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: If we remember Cyrus, Cyrus is the one that gave the declaration that began the 70th week in Daniel.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: And then it was taken over by the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, and then Rome came and took over.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Back in the in the 1970s and 80s, Saddam Hussein ordered archaeologists, archaeologists, how do you say that?
25:11
SPEAKER_00: Archaeological things?
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: And engineers to go and start excavating Babylon.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: They rebuilt the gates of Ishtar, which have some horrible images on them, and some of the city's walls.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: And work is still ongoing, but it's an excavation site.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: It's not a building site.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: And it really has not been since Saddam Hussein told them to do that.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: So I don't think that Babylon literally rebuilt is the best explanation for who Babylon Mystery Babylon is.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
25:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're just not building.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: And I checked with Jim this afternoon too, and I said, are they rebuilding?
25:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because I can't find anything on it, and I don't, and he said, No.
26:02
SPEAKER_00: They might do it so that it can be a tourist attraction, but that will be probably all it will be.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: So the next one is the entire world system.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: And this is another popular view that it symbolizes the evil world system which is set against God.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: And I think this comes very close to describing what Mystery Babylon is, and it definitely represents the beast system.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: The Antichrist is also called the beast, and the his his political thing is called the beast system.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: That's how we explain it.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: This system encompasses commerce and banking, it encompasses human and sex trafficking, gun running, ritual satanic sacrifices.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: This is what they don't want us to understand.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: What they have been doing.
26:54
SPEAKER_00: Antichrist system is often referred to the beast system, which I said, which basically is the same thing as the Babylonian system.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: You've probably heard that.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: All of this is the same stuff that we're talking about.
27:07
SPEAKER_00: It's a satanic-inspired system that works in the shadows of all the nations on the earth and is way deeper and darker and extensive than any of us can even imagine.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: It is a Luciferian religion that includes child sacrifices and goes downhill from there.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: As we will see in a minute, the city Babylon will be on fire, right?
27:35
SPEAKER_00: It's going to burn.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: And so it is a literal place.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: There is a literal place.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: So there is a system, a Babylonian satanic system, and then there is a literal place.
27:51
SPEAKER_00: Okay, through the centuries, many people have assumed that Babylon was one thing or another, right?
27:58
SPEAKER_00: If these events had happened 2,500 years ago, most people would have thought that this passage literally meant Babylon.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Of course, it makes sense because they were around.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: If these events happened in 100 AD, most readers would have expected it to be Rome and some form of Roman paganism.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: After the violent conquest in the Middle East and Africa and part of Europe, they would have seen it as Islam and Mecca, which is in Saudi Arabia, would have been the suspect.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: During the 1940s, many thought that Hitler was the last day's dictator and that Berlin was the city.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: In the 1960s and 70s, prophecy writers were sure that it was Rome and Catholicism, right?
28:48
SPEAKER_00: And if these events happened 300 years from now, the woman who we're going to look at could represent a religious system that has something to do with New Age and something, something else.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: It could be anything.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: So the point I'm trying to make is that God has kept Mystery Babylon a mystery for his own purposes.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: I've spent a minimum of 30 hours at least working on this one lesson, just this lesson, because I wanted to understand it, and I don't want to lead you astray in anything that I'm that I'm saying.
29:40
SPEAKER_00: But listen to me.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: As the time draws near, I think that God is going to, it's going to become more and more obvious who this could be.
29:52
SPEAKER_00: I really do.
29:53
SPEAKER_00: I think as that gets closer, that we're going to see more and more.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what God wants.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: The fourth option is Jerusalem.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: And some believe that Babylon is Jerusalem, some pretty much symbolically Jerusalem.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: And we're going to see that.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem does play a very significant part here in the tribulation.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to say definitively that I think it is Jerusalem.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: Definitively that I think.
30:24
SPEAKER_00: Definitively that it is Jerusalem, but I think there's such strong evidence for it to be that.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: If it is Jerusalem, it will be representative of the wicked system, the wicked system that we've been talking about.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to look through Revelation 17 and 18 because they're so important and they relate to everything we've been saying.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: So Revelation 17 is the heavenly viewpoint, and Revelation 18 is the earthly viewpoint.
30:58
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 17 depicts the false religious system, which will be a consolidation of various religions and a lot of everything mixed in it.
31:11
SPEAKER_00: And with the church already gone, which we believe the church is already going to be gone, there's going to be a real conglomeration of all different beliefs.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: And then chapter 18 describes the political and the economic system, materialism, humanism, sensuality, that kind of thing.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: Babylon is not just the name of a city in the Middle East, it's also the name that symbolizes the chief characteristics throughout history, right?
31:42
SPEAKER_00: We need to keep this double use of the name in mind as both a real city and a symbol as we read these chapters, okay?
31:52
SPEAKER_00: So Revelation chapter 17, verse 1.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: One of the seven angels who had the seven bulls came to me and said, Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sets by many waters.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
32:17
SPEAKER_00: The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: She held a golden cup in her hand filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
32:31
SPEAKER_00: So the gold and the precious stones make her look like she's a queen, which is how she sees herself too.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: And the cup, the gold cup, adds to that royal appearance, but it contains that abomination, the wickedness that she has done.
32:50
SPEAKER_00: The name written on her forehead was a mystery.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: Her name is a mystery, meaning something that has previously not been known, but will be revealed.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: And in time it will be made clear.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: The harlot represents Babylon, and she is the mother of harlots.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Not just one harlot by herself, but she represents all of the harlotry that has gone on.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: And many in that evil, false, um idolatrous religious system, and everything that is anti-Christian.
33:30
SPEAKER_00: Then we're going to go back to verse 2.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: With her, the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: The word adultery is the word immorality in other versions, and in the Greek the word is pornea.
33:52
SPEAKER_00: So the kings of the earth in verse 2 are world leaders who personify kingdoms who have not only joined in her immorality, but have profited by this in pornography and sex trafficking industry.
34:12
SPEAKER_00: Verse 6.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
34:20
SPEAKER_00: When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Then the angel said to me, Why are you astonished?
34:25
SPEAKER_00: I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has seven heads and ten hordes.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: So we clearly see two entities here, right?
34:34
SPEAKER_00: We see the woman and we see the beast.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: The woman is not the beast.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: They're two separate things.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: She represents an evil, false religious system that is distinct from the beast.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: The beast is a political power, the beast is Antichrist.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 17, 18.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: So the woman is a city.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: I do not believe the city is Rome, like we talked about.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: And if all of this happens really soon, like say in the next three years, it's not going to be Babylon either.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: And so it has to be someplace else.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: And I tend to think it represents Jerusalem.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: Remember at this point, okay, in the tribulation, that the Antichrist, who is also the beast, has made a peace treaty with Israel for seven years.
35:36
SPEAKER_00: The beast then, in the middle of that seven years, has set himself up as God and he defiled the temple in Jerusalem.
35:47
SPEAKER_00: The two witnesses have been murdered and resurrected in Jerusalem.
35:52
SPEAKER_00: Everything in the last days has to do with Israel, and so it makes sense that Jerusalem could very well be the great city that it's talked about.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Israel is God's beloved, his chosen.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: They are his.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: I think it's the beginning stages of this wicked takedown of this wicked evil system.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: Now listen to how the world responds here.
41:01
SPEAKER_00: When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her share and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: This is, if this is literal, and I believe it is, then this city sits beside water and it is on fire.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: It is burning.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: The kings, the rulers of the earth, the king makers, the um the those in the New World Order who who just see themselves as the rulers of the world, the NGOs, the non-governmental officials, will they will all mourn when they see the collapse of the system that has profited them so much.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: They will mourn when that happens.
41:41
SPEAKER_00: And they will will because what they participated in enabled their luxury.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: Verse um okay.
41:54
SPEAKER_00: Let me go back.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: Do I have that off?
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
42:03
SPEAKER_00: Woe, woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon, in one hour your doom has come.
42:11
SPEAKER_00: The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys her cargoes anymore.
42:16
SPEAKER_00: Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble.
42:31
SPEAKER_00: Cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankenshimps, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages, and human beings sold as slaves.
42:48
SPEAKER_00: This Babylonian system sees human beings as nothing more than animals to be bought and sold and discarded at will.
42:58
SPEAKER_00: That's how they see humanity.
43:00
SPEAKER_00: The system that is in place at the end time, this is what they will feel and think.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: And they will have cargoes of human beings sold as slaves.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: The US State Department says the human trafficking practiced in the world today is tied to illegal arms dealing and is reportedly the second most lucrative crime globally, surpassed only by the drug trade.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: That was from 2012.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: Let me clarify for a minute.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem either represents that system or becomes so corrupt, so corrupt in that through that system that God destroys her literally with fire.
43:50
SPEAKER_00: And indeed, um I think it is Jerusalem here that we are seeing.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: Jim didn't necessarily agree with me, but we didn't have much.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Time to talk to convince him.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: And I was a little scattered.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Because it's hard to talk to Jim about this stuff.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
44:12
SPEAKER_00: He's so brilliant.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: But then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a millstone and threw it into the sea and said, With such violence, the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
44:29
SPEAKER_00: It is complete, and the following verses make it really clear that it won't be coming back.
44:37
SPEAKER_00: The music of harpists and of musicians, pipers, and trumpers will never be heard in you again.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: The voice of the bridegroom and bribe will never be heard in you again.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Your merchants were the world's important people.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: In her was found the blood of prophets and of God's holy people of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.
44:59
SPEAKER_00: So through her influence, an example, Babylon, symbolic of the satanic world system, right?
45:07
SPEAKER_00: Um has been responsible for all of the slayings that have occurred.
45:13
SPEAKER_00: And the killing during the tribulation is going to be immense, the killing of the saints.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: Enormous guilt rests on the shoulders of the world's important people.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: One commentary says blood violently cries out for vengeance until it is rewarded by the punishment of the murderers.
45:41
SPEAKER_00: The destruction of Babylon answers to that punishment.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: Says your merchants were the world's important people, the Luciferian religions, the secret societies, the politicians, the entertainment industry, the drug and trafficking industry.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: By your magic spell, all the nations were led astray, and most versions the word spell here is sorcery.
46:06
SPEAKER_00: And the term sorcery in the Greek is pharmacia, from which we get the word pharmacy.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: Coincidence?
46:15
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah 25, see, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city, Jerusalem, that bears my name.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: And you will indeed go unpun and will you indeed go unpunished?
46:27
SPEAKER_00: You will not go unpunished.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: For I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them, The Lord will roar from on high.
46:39
SPEAKER_00: He will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land.
46:45
SPEAKER_00: He will shout like those who tread the grapes.
46:48
SPEAKER_00: Shout against all who live on the earth.
46:50
SPEAKER_00: The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord will bring charges against the nations.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: He will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to sword, declares the Lord.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord Almighty says.
47:04
SPEAKER_00: Look, disaster is spreading nation to nation, a mighty storm is rising to the ends of the earth.
47:12
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: Let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city, for this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: Israel is God's beloved.
47:36
SPEAKER_00: They are his chosen people.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: But perhaps by this time in the tribulation, perhaps Jerusalem has become that haunt for jackals.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: I believe that they it there's a real strong possibility that they will not be a Jewish religious system.
47:56
SPEAKER_00: They which they most of them are unbelievers even now.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: If they are mystery Babylon.
48:05
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, no one can say.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: We can make speculations, we can try to put pieces together, but no one really knows.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: So when does this destruction happen for Babylon?
48:16
SPEAKER_00: It either happens at the beginning of the seven-year period, which I don't think is the case, or it happens at the end of the seven-year period, and that's when I think it it happens.
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Most commentators agree that it's at the end.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: And I think Antichrist, the beast, will rule from Jerusalem because that's where the temple is, and that's where he will violate.
48:40
SPEAKER_00: So the beast is the Antichrist.
48:42
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 17, 6.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: The beast and the and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute.
48:47
SPEAKER_00: They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked.
48:50
SPEAKER_00: They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: So this beast and his allies, because he's going to have that tin horns, ten nations, they throw off the harlot and they totally destroy that system.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: And they will plunder her wealth, they will explode expose her corruption and literally consume her.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17 for God has put it into their hearts, the beast and the ten kings, to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over the beast to the beast their royal authority until God's words are fulfilled.
49:35
SPEAKER_00: This verse is really important.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: Basically, God is using the forces of evil to further his agenda for the planet.
49:47
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we can completely understand that yet.
49:52
SPEAKER_00: But that's what we are seeing here.
49:54
SPEAKER_00: That the powers of evil serve the purpose of God.
49:58
SPEAKER_00: Only God can do that.
50:00
SPEAKER_00: Only God can do that.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: Only God can take what Satan means for evil and turn around and use it for good.
50:08
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 17, 8.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: The beast which you saw once was, now is not, and yet will come out of the abyss and go to its destruction.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse um nine through ten.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: This calls for a mind of with wisdom.
50:38
SPEAKER_00: The seven heads or seven hills on which the woman sits, they are also seven kings.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.
50:51
SPEAKER_00: The beast who was one who once was and now is not is the eighth king.
50:56
SPEAKER_00: He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
50:59
SPEAKER_00: So the seven hills represent the seven kings.
51:02
SPEAKER_00: That's what it just said.
51:03
SPEAKER_00: The woman sits over the seven rulers or empires or mountains, as they're usually said in Scripture, but she is not one of them.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: She exercises authority over them until she is taken down.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but for one hour they will receive authority as kings along with the beast.
51:26
SPEAKER_00: They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.
51:31
SPEAKER_00: So each one of these are from different kingdoms, and simultaneously they will give over their authority to him.
51:40
SPEAKER_00: And the very at the very end of the tribulation, these kings will all fight against King Jesus, and he will defeat them.
51:49
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 17, 14.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them, because he is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers.
52:14
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to think about all of this.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: And wow, God knows what he is doing.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: And he announces or telegraphs it 2,000 years before it takes place.
52:31
SPEAKER_00: He's telling us exactly what he's gonna do.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: And all of what we're seeing seems to be according to the plan.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: Everything seems to be falling in line with what Jesus is saying here.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: So that means that we can rest our hearts and we can trust in him.
52:53
SPEAKER_00: We can rest our hearts in truth, that all the wicked and all the murder and the deceit that is going on will be dealt with, and there will be a day of vengeance of our God.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: It's only a matter of time.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: Until then, we can trust him and we can know the truth.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
53:17
SPEAKER_00: Father God.
53:21
SPEAKER_00: We can't begin to figure all of this out.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: And we're grateful that we don't have to.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: But we're also grateful that you tell us ahead of time what it is you're going to do.
53:35
SPEAKER_00: So that when we start seeing more and more of these pieces fitting together, it's going to give us a very good indication of where we are.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: And you told us in the book of Daniel that that um in the in the in times it would become more clear.
53:51
SPEAKER_00: So we thank you for that.
53:53
SPEAKER_00: We know we can trust you.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: You are the only solid rock that we can stand on.
54:02
SPEAKER_00: Because everything else is shifting sand, Lord.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: You're it.
54:06
SPEAKER_00: You are the only, only thing that we can depend on.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: But we thank you that you are so dependable, that you are so faithful, that you are so merciful and grace-giving.
54:21
SPEAKER_00: We see that.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: We see that.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: Even in these end-time things that are so terrible, you make sure that you are pouring out grace because that is who you are.
54:33
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you so much.
54:36
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would bless these ladies and bless our discussion time.
54:41
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, again, once again, we just cry out to you and say, Come, Lord Jesus, we're ready.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in your name.
54:50
SPEAKER_00: Amen.