Episode Transcript
So glad you've joined us for Countdown. Back to the Future. We have an amazing presentation. This time we're looking at Babylon Rising. We're talking about demonic dimensions and a night cry. You're wondering, what on earth is all that about? I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I was scared of the dark. I guess there's lots of kids scared of the dark, but anyway, sometimes I'd have these nightmares as a child and I'd wake up and I'd try to pluck up enough to call my mom and dad. And after what seemed an endless age, I would call out, mommy, Daddy. And then for a little while there was complete darkness still. And then suddenly a light would flicker on at the end of the passageway and I'd run out of bed down the passageway, jump into bed with mum and dad and everybody lived happily ever after. Well, I want to talk about a night cry in this presentation, but far more important than a little kid like me scared of the dark. Want to take us back in time. And we're going to move forward to where we are today as well. John saw a prostitute sitting on a scarlet coloured beast. Notice what the Bible says here in Revelation, chapter 17. The Bible says, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. And on her forehead a name was written. Mystery. Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. Wow, that's quite a statement, isn't it? But who is this Babylon the great prostitute? How would we understand this? Well, we've noticed already in the Book of Revelation that there are many symbols, right? And these symbols, as we've seen, are interpreted by the Bible itself. I once heard of someone saying, I found the oil crisis in the Bible. They said there was a verse over there in Ezekiel or somewhere, it said, spoils. Well, that sounds like oils. So that must be the oil crisis. Come on, you can't interpret the Bible like that. Not what it sounds like, but thank God, the Bible is its own interpreter. If we want to understand something in one passage, we go elsewhere in the Bible and it will explain the symbol. So that's why we've been saying the Bible interprets itself. And we've noticed that in presentation after presentation. But also we noticed in our last one of our recent programs that there are contrasting pairs in the Book of Revelation. Remember we have a marriage supper of the lamb and a supper of the birds or the vultures. We also saw in a couple of presentations God's seal and the beast. Mark two seals or two marks. Now we have two women. We have a pure woman in Revelation and we have a prostitute. And what we need to do is look at both of them, because what we'll see is we'll discover 1, 1, 1 in the pair by studying the opposite because it'll be something similar, but in opposition to the other one. So let's do that for this Babylon, the great prostitute. How would we understand this? Well, just have a look at the pure woman first of all and we' really get a handle on what this Babylon prostitute lady's all about. So let's do that. John said, now a great sign appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a Garland of 12 stars. Now do you notice that this woman is clothed in light from head to foot, she's full of light. This means this is a picture of God's people. That's who the pure woman represents. Now, first of all, it's God's church. In the Old Testament times we notice that that's what the Old Testament Israel was called, God's church. We see that in the Bible very clearly. First of all, let's notice the Old Testament people of God were called God's wife or bride. The Bible says in the book of Isaiah, chapter 54, verse 5, for your that's talking of Israel, your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth. So there it is. God's people in Old Testament times are likened to the wife of God, so to speak, because he loves them like a husband should love his wife. So the Old Testament people of God were also called the church of God. Notice how it's mentioned in the Book of Acts when Stephen is talking. Notice what Stephen said. This is he that was in the church in the wilderness. That means the Sinai desert with the angel which spoke to him in the Mount Sinai when Moses was given the ten Commandments. So there is God's people in the Old Testament times were called the bride or the wife of God and his church, his people. Now, so now we see the pure woman, the Old Testament church. But let's continue with John as he unfolds to us who this pure woman is all about. The Bible says then being with child. This is this lady, remember, she's pregnant, she's being with child. She cries out in labor and in pain to give birth. She wants to give birth to this baby. And the dragon stood before the Woman who was ready to give birth to devour her child as soon as it was born. She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and his throne. I'm glad it says a rod of iron. You know, the shepherd's rod, often time was a stick. But God has a rod of iron. It's not going to break. He's always going to be able to rescue his people. Not like a shepherd whose rod may break. God can rescue his people from their enemies. So he says here this people, God's people, here we see are represented by this woman who's now about to give birth to this baby. God's Old Testament people longed to have the Messiah. In fact, the very first child of Adam and Eve. They called him Cain, which means we've gotten the man from God. Remember, after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised a deliverer, a promised seed, a child would be born, the Messiah. And they thought it was the first one that they had. But it was the first murderer, Cain, tragically. But all down through the ages, God's people longed for the Messiah. The prophets wrote about him, the one yet to come. Micah says he's going to be born in Bethlehem, and Isaiah says he's going to be born of a virgin. And so on down through time. They longed for the Messiah. And so when the Messiah is about to be born, the dragon wants to take him out. The dragon wants to destroy him. And remember, that's what Herod the Great tried to do. As soon as Jesus was born, he wanted to snuff out his life, but he failed. God sent Joseph a dream and he escaped to Egypt. You recall that. But notice what happens now as we continue the story. First of all, God's Old Testament people are represented by this woman. The woman's about to give birth, the Messiah's about to come. And he comes caught up to God on his throne. What happens next? The Bible says now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. So now he's going to go after the lady who, who's given birth to the male child who's given birth to the Messiah. So now what we're looking at is God's people since the time of Christ. Cause the Messiah has come. Now we're looking at the time after. In other words, the New Testament church and onward through the ages. In fact, that's exactly what Paul likens the church to in the New Testament to the bride or the wife of God, so to speak. The Bible says, I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. And what a beautiful picture that is. The closest of human relationships is that between a husband and his wife, the bride and her bridegroom. This is the closest relationship we can have in human. Human situation. So God picks this up and he said, that's sort of like how I love you. Much bigger, but much better than that. I love you like a husband should love his wife, and so on. All right. So what a great picture. So now you can see, we can begin to understand very clearly who this Babylon, the great prostitute is. Who is she? She represents an apostate or an unfaithful church or people, a people who may claim to belong to God, but they're not following. Go. They're not walking with God. They are leaving him behind. They are apostates. In fact, that's how the New Testament pictures God's people when they chase after the world and try to have one foot in both camps, one for God and one for the world. Notice what James says as he writes to his friends. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? What's he getting at? He's not talking about we shouldn't have friends who are not Christian. We should try to bring them to Christ. What he's talking about is we. We just want to have these friends so we follow what they do. Notice what he's saying. Adulterers, he's saying, are Christians who belong to the world while they profess to love Christ. They claim to be Christian, but they don't live like it. They don't. They deliberately just want to do things that God says you shouldn't do or you should do. They're not going to do them. That's what an adulterer is. Pretty strong language. But in fact, that's what Israel was called when it turned away from God. You read the book of Hosea. It's a picture of what Israel's like chasing after other lovers. And Hosea has to go down and bring his wife back, pay for her and bring her back because she keeps on running off with other men. And God's saying, that's what my people are like when they turn away from me. They're adulteresses, adulterers and so on. Now, so this is what we have here, an apostate, people of God, people who are not walking with God. Now, Babylon, we're going to discover is made up of three parts. Well, let's go to the Revelation chapter 16 and we notice this here. Now the great city, that's Babylon the Great, was divided into three parts and great Babylon was remembered before God. So what are the three parts of this Babylon the great prostitute. Well, to understand that we need to go to the sixth plague. It's under the sixth plague that we understand what the three parts of this Babylon the Great are. So let's go there again. Revelation 16. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared. Now, King Cyrus, you remember, dried up the river Euphrates, Remember he lowered it so his soldiers could walk along the muddy river bank and get into the city of Babylon and take it. So the drying up of the Euphrates is saying Babylon. You see, the word Euphrates is code for Babylon the Great in Revelation because Babylon sat on the river Euphrates. That's what he's picturing here. So when it says the Euphrates is dried up, he's wanting us to think Babylon, Babylon the Great. And here are the three parts. Now he tells us, I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs. This is what he continues to tell us now, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false. Now the false prophet is that beast that comes up out of the land and does miracles we're going to see in a moment. But they deceive people. So he's a false prophet. So here is Babylon the Great. In the Bible these three powers are called Babylon the Great, the dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. Now the dragon, really what it represents are all those non Christian fronts that he uses, lots of them. Non, all his non Christian fronts and ideologies, all those worldviews that are clearly got nothing to do with God's word. This is what it's getting at. Remember, that's what the dragon used as his front. Sometimes the king of Tyre, pagan king, king of Babylon, pagan king. The Romans back in the time of Jesus, pagan Romans. So non Christian groups. All right, so the Dark age church is of course the sea beast. The dark age church renewed in end times. We've been seeing, this is represented by the sea beast, the land beast. Of course, that is Protestantism, that is no longer following God's word as they once did, as they once started, they're turning away. They called it apostate Protestant usa. That's the land beast, that's the false prophet. So then what is Babylon? When you put it all together with these three different parts? Babylon is Christian and non Christian religions and worldviews and ideologies that are not following God and his word. That's very clear what we have in the Bible here, all that is Babylon. Now the Bible says these words about this prostitute lady. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. You see what's going on here? She's the lady of the night. She's dressed up to get someone. She's got it all, you know, all the dingle dangles there and she's out to catch somewhere where they're intoxicating drink. That's what it's a picture of here. The Bible says with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Not just the political leaders which is represented by the kings, but everybody it seems, is intoxicated with the wine of this prostitute that she has in her cup. So then we need to ask this question. What's this wine that the prostitute uses to make the inhabitants of the world drunk? Everybody, what is this wine? Well, we understand very clearly when we go to the teachings of Jesus. When Jesus was here, he talked about his teachings as being new wine, which means unfermented grape juice, the wine out of the bunch. You see, that's what he called it. He said, you can't put new wine in old wineskins. And he was talking about his teachings as opposed to the teachings of the Pharisees. Notice what he said? No one puts new wine, that's grape juice into old wineskins or else the new wine will burst, the wineskins just gonna break apart. So the new wine is God's teachings, Christ's teachings. As the new wine is found in the cluster, the bunch of grapes, as one says, don't destroy it for a blessing, it is in it. So Jesus likened his teachings to grape juice, non alcoholic wine. So now we can understand what this wine, this alcoholic wine represents that the woman's carrying. It represents Babylon's false teachings, her false doctrines. The Bible says these words. Paul is warning the Christian church. Now, the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, expressly says that in latter times, that is in the days to come, some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and to doctrines or teachings of demons. You see? So these teachings of demons, this woman's got this cup, she's got the backing of the dragon, remember Satan, the demon ahead of demons. And she's carrying this intoxicating drink, which is false doctrines. Now, the alcoholic wine, her false teachings, we've seen some of them. They come from paganism. Remember number one, baptism by sprinkling. This actually was practiced by the pagan Egyptians. Not only that, we have the immortal soul idea that somehow when we die, our immortal soul or spirit escapes, people say. And then, of course, we saw that Sunday replaced Sabbath. The first day replaced the seventh day, God's Sabbath very clearly. And then we saw another teaching that comes from the devil. The eternally burning hell where they say God roasts and toasts people, on and on and on into eternity. And we saw that makes God look like a bloodthirsty monster. These are some of the alcoholic teachings of this Babylon, the great prostitute. Now, John tells us that Babylon's false teachings corrupt the world. That's what he says, made them drunk. They can't think straight, they can't see straight. They don't understand. And Babylon's teachings do corrupt the world. And that brings us to the second angel's message. Because God gives a warning about Babylon's false teachings. Right there in the second angel's message. Here we notice the woman he's talking about, this great prostitute lady. The Bible says another angel followed. That is, followed the first angel saying, babylon is fallen. Is fallen. That great city, Babylon the great. Why is she fallen? Because she has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. She's fallen because she's intoxicated everybody with these false teachings. Now let me tell you, Babylon's false teachings corrupt the world very clearly. You think about the teaching of the immortal soul. Does that corrupt people too? Right? It does. You see many people who think, well, there must be the immortal soul hanging around there somewhere. We can communicate with it. But we're not communicating with the dead. We're communicating with demons. That's corrupting. That's why God warns us that false teachings can lead to terrible consequences. How about this one about Sunday sacredness? That is why we have evolution today. Let me tell you. You say, how come? Well, people forgot to keep the Sabbath. And what does the Sabbath remind people of? That God is the creator. That this world is not the product of time and chance. We didn't come from the monkey. The Slime pit. We're made in the image of God. But when people change the day, then we change the reminder of the day. We don't remember why God has made us, why God gave us the Sabbath to remind us that he's the Creator. And where have we ended up? Today we have many people in the Western world who not only believe that this world came into being by chance, by accident, but they don't even believe in a God. Now do you see how Babylon's teachings intoxicate the world? This is one of the reasons Satan has introduced this idea of a different day of worship. Because it's going to help us forget the God of the creation. Tragic, because creation tells us we matter, we're important. Every one of us made in the image of God. No wonder these teachings, you see, corrupt the world. What about this last one that we'll look at? The idea of an eternally burning hell. Well, let me tell you, there are more atheists on this planet today because of that teaching than you would care to imagine. If that's what God's like. God is like. They say, I hate God. I don't want even to believe that there is a God. Tragic, isn't it? So Babylon's false teachings, that's why the Bible says they make the nations drunk. Corrupts their thinking. Tragic indeed. The three powers. Now these three powers of Babylon, the next thing they do is they gather everybody to the battle of Armageddon. Remember, that's the battle of the great day of God Almighty. That's the place where people are destroyed who cling and hold on to sin. That's that battle that we saw. So how do they gather all the nations to Armageddon? Well, notice how they do it. It's incredible. But I thank God that 2000 years ago John warned us how this would happen. Cause we can be on the lookout now ourselves. The Bible says I saw three unclean spirits like frogs. Now why frogs? Well, remember that this is one of the plagues we're talking, this is discussed under the sixth plague. And one of the plagues in Egypt was what? Frogs. The frogs were everywhere. When you read the story in the book of Exodus, they're in your bathtub, they're in your kitchen cupboard, they're in your sink, in your oven. They were everywhere. So what God is telling us here as well is that the demons are going to be everywhere in the end of time because of the false teachings. Saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, coming out of the Mouth of the sea beast coming out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of demons performing miracles. The Bible says not tricks, miracles, signs and wonders which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon, Destruction. That's the devil's aim. What did we notice? He lives for two things. Deception through miracles here. What for? To destroy people eternally. Because he hates people really. Especially if they love God. He doesn't care about people because if he can destroy people that gets at God. Because God loves everybody. God doesn't want anybody to be destroyed. So there we have it. John says demonic global deceptions. Signs and wonders to deceive the world so as to take them to destruction. So is this happening today? Is this really starting to take place in our world today? Signs and wonders. Let me tell you, it certainly is. I want you to think for a moment. Let's first of all look at non Christian powers, religions and different worldviews and ideologies. Why is it that Hollywood is pouring out a bunch of films about the paranormal, the supernatural, things like Ghost, Sabrina, the X Files, the Blair Witch, Harry Potter. This is all helping people to be ready for this great deception that's going to come. It's putting people in that thinking mode and many people believe some of this stuff is true that Hollywood puts out. Well there's no question there are ghosts but they're not what people think they are. They are demons masquerading as people. And what about with things like the New age and channeling astrology? It's rampant in the western world today. I used to live in a city, a suburb of Perth. The most broken in shop in that city was the New age bookshop and people looking for answers to how to face life today. Most broken into shop the New Age. New age with all of its different things, you know, out of body experiences, channeling and so on. Now how do you know it's not for real that there's a deception going on here? It's not really the dead talking to people because the Bible says the dead. No nothing. You see my friend, we are coming to a time, let me tell you where the only thing we're going to be able to have solid under our feet is this book. This book is how you can decipher a phony from what is true. This is the only way you and I are going to be able to get through this maze of masses of demonic deceptions. In the end, time is, do we rely on this book? And more importantly, have we put our trust in the God of this book? No question about it. What about reincarnation? Let me tell you, it's in our magazines, all the stories of reincarnated lives and sounds fantastic, even sounds true to many people. I was Columbus in a previous life or I was Napoleon. But let me tell you, the Bible is very clear. It is appointed unto men to die once, once to die, and after that the judgment. The Bible knows no such thing as a recycling of the soul. That's a deception of the enemy. It's one of his ploys to help us think that maybe the immortal soul is out there somewhere and I can contact that, whatever it is. But I'm not really contacting a person, I'm contacting a demon. How about signs and wonders in apostate Protestantism? By the way, even in non Christian religions there are signs and wonders. How do you think it is possible that a Hindu man can walk on coals of fire and not have his feet cooked? It's not a trick, it's a supernatural wonder they have calling on the powers of demons. Actually, this sort of thing is going on in the world today. But let's come now to apostate Protestant America. Do we see signs and wonders in this space? We surely do. The fastest growing movement in Christianity today is the signs and wonders movement, with healings and prophecies and all manner of signs and wonders. But I want you to notice, my friend, Jesus warned us that not all miracles are coming from God by a long shot. Notice what Jesus said. Many will say to me in that day, that is the day I come. Many will say to me in that day, lord, Lord. They're Christian, they call him Lord. Have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name and done many wonders? That means miracles in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you who practice what? Lawlessness. So, my friend, just because you see someone going into a great meeting where someone's professing to heal people, they go in with their wheelchair and come out without their wheelchair. Don't necessarily think that's a miracle from God. Jesus warned it's not necessarily the case. We need to understand how to discern true from the false. And that's why the Bible says we need to test them. We need to do some tests so that we won't be deceived by these Sorts of signs and wonders. Well, what are the tests? Well, number one test is the fruit test. The Bible says, beware of false prophets. You will know them by their fruits. He means their lifestyle, the way they live. Do they profess one thing and are something else behind everybody's back? I want you to think of Jesus for a moment. What was Jesus like? Jesus lived a life of purity. You never saw him in bed with a woman. Jesus lived a life of simplicity. There was no razzle dazzle show for Jesus when he did his miracles. There was no glitzy lights and all sorts of stuff like that. He was not a proud man. He was a man who was humble. But do you know what's going on today, my friend? Just in the televangelists and great faith healers that we often hear, there have been reported 30 scandals. We're talking serious scandals since up to 2011. There'd be a lot more by now. But you'll notice big name preachers, fraud, abuse, theft, adultery, getting caught in a hotel with a prostitute. Big name preachers, big name fatalists. Some of them own golf courses, they fly jets. Very rich. Big contrast to Jesus, let me tell you, who had to borrow a donkey. Big contrast to Jesus by a long shot. My friend. We have to ask the question. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruits. We need to think about that very clearly. There's a second test God gave us and that is the commandment test. Jesus gave us this one. He said, look, not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does what the will of my Father in heaven. And where do we find the will of God in the Bible? In his teachings and in his commandments. Very clear. Now the Bible is plain that if they speak a contrary to the Bible, there's no light in them. Notice what Isaiah says. Isaiah warns to the law and to the testimony to God's commandments, to the scriptures. If they do not speak according to this Word, it's because there is no light in them. You see, sometimes the devil mixes a bit of truth with error. And that makes it even harder to work out where this is coming from. But God never mixes truth with error. It's always truth. That's why the Bible says if they speak according to anything in this word, it's because there's no light in them. Now when you hear a preacher say, listen, the law of God is done away with, you know, this person is a false prophet, a false healer. God is not a schizophrenic. He's not going to give his mighty power of the Holy Spirit on a person who does all these signs and wonders. But then out of the other side of his mouth, he says, God's law is not important anymore. Not when God says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Not when Paul says, does Grace do away with the commandments? God forbid, he says. You see? And there are many preachers in this space that believe that the commandments are not that relevant anymore. Especially the one on the Sabbath, for some strange reason. What about the revived Dark Age Church, the Church of Rome? Do we see miracles, signs and wonders coming from here? We surely do. I have a book in my library called the Thunder of Justice. What's interesting about it is it's written by two very devout people from the Church of Rome, Ted and Maureen Flynn. And what this book is, it's about all the Marian apparitions, appearances and messages from Mary, said to be the mother of Jesus. Lots of Marian apparitions. In fact. You know, Time magazine ran an article called Mary Handmaid or feminist in Time magazine some years ago. Notice what they said? Pope John Paul believed. Pope John Paul. He firmly believes that her personal intercession, that's Mary's intercession, spared his life when he was shot at St. Peter's Squ in Rome in 1981. Some of you may remember that event. Mary saved me, he said, her intercession in heaven. But hang on a bit. Mary died. We even have the tomb of the Virgin Mary. In fact, the bishops tell us. The bishops of Rome tell us Mary died. We have the Dormition of the Virgin, the peaceful sleep of death. The Bible never says anything about Mary's spirit or soul or Mary coming to life again. The Bible says something contrary. The Bible says the dead know nothing. Mary is sleeping till Jesus comes, then her son, who will wake her up when he returns the second time. So who's doing the talking? Who's doing the appearing? Let me tell you, according to the Bible, it's not Mary. Cause Mary's asleep. She can't remember anything. The Bible says, remember her love, her hatred, have all perished until she wakes up at the resurrection day. That's the way you have. Eternal life, resurrection and belief in Jesus. No, my friend. Signs and wonders coming from Babylon. The three areas, Global demonic deceptions. What for? They lead people to worship Satan. I want you to notice what the Bible says. He, the land beast, causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. So how does this land beast, Protestant Apostate Protestant United States. How does he get everybody to worship the sea beast? Well, through miracles. That's what the Bible tells us. Notice what the Bible says. He, the land beast that is, performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Hold on a bit. Who did that? And it was a real event. It was Prophet Elijah back in the Old Testament. He called on God to send fire down to consume the sacrifice. Fire came down. Now, this person, this being, this power, he's not doing a. He's doing a miracle, a sign, a wonder, but he's using it to deceive people. So he's not working for God, because God never lies. He's not in the deception business. That's why this power is called the false prophet. What does he do with these signs and wonders? He makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. He deceives those who dwell on the earth by those miracles which he was granted to do, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. Signs and wonders to get people in Protestant USA to make a replica of the sea beast. A union of church and state we saw previously. That's what the beast acted like, and that's what, sadly, Protestant USA will one day like. In fact, it is moving that way today. And let me tell you, miracles, signs and wonders are one of the great ways that that's happening in the making of an image of the Church of Rome in that country. The Bible says all the world marveled and followed the beast, so they worshiped the dragon. Who gave authority to the beast, my friend, to worship the beast's image that Protestant America sets up through miracles, signs and wonders. If you worship the image, you really worship the beast, because it's a replica of the beast. And if you worship the beast, John says you worship Satan. Serious business. That's what's beginning to happen in apostate Protestantism in that country. Forming an image of the Church of Rome, a church state union is in the making today. I would remind you of what happened there at the Capitol riots. Who was mainly in that group that was pounding the doors, smashing some of the security guards. These were Protestant Christians waving Bibles for God and country. Something's wrong. Something's going on in that country. Let me tell you, one of the most powerful people, the President Trump's pastor, is a charismatic leader, a very powerful lady. And the forces of the charismatic evangelicals are putting Things in place to form an image of the beast. Mr. Trump, of course he has his agenda, but they are using Mr. Trump to do what John said. Protestant America, evangelicalism is calling again and again for political involvement in a big way in that country. That's why it's called Christian nationalism. It's a growing phenomenon in that country today. Oh, we're not there yet. There's not an image of the beast, but we're moving, my friend. And signs and wonders is part of this thing. John said it and we can start to see it. Powerful, demonic global deceptions. Jesus warned us that this is not going to be easy to detect the true from the false. In the end of time, he said, for false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible. Even the elect, even those who have a deep relationship with Jesus, if it was possible, even they would be deceived. This is not going to be any walk in the park, my friend. Deceptions are going to be rampant. And the only way you and I are going to get through that is to be built on this book, on what God has said in this book. Follow what it says. To have a relationship with Jesus through studying his Word. Deceptions to lead to destruction. Powerful miracles coming already starting. I remember I had a church leader in when I was living as a. Working as a pastor. One of my church members decided to go to one of these great healing services. Came away. He said, man, I saw someone go in with crutches, came out without crutches. God was working mighty miracles. I said, be careful, my friend. Be careful. Just because you see a miracle doesn't mean it's coming from God. And I showed him. I reminded him of the passages by Jesus in the Revelation in his teachings. Be careful, do the tests. What do they believe and how do they live? What's their lifestyle like? Is it a big glitzy thing, wanting money, prosperity gospel? Jesus never taught such things, my friend. He always taught the road to the kingdom is narrow. It's a hard road. It's a road of sacrifice. Take up your cross and follow me. But many Christians today, they want an easy way to the kingdom. There's no easy way to the kingdom, my friend. Jesus wanted to save us and it cost him his life. He said, take up your cross and follow me. Very important. We can be deceived if we're not careful. So how do we avoid demonic deceptions? Well, fortunately, the Bible gives us two great clues. Number one, we must love and follow the truth. I Like the way Paul put it, he said, the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. Because why do they perish? Why do they believe the lying wonders, the signs, the miracles that are not coming from God? Notice what he says next. Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. My friend, when you and I. I'm talking about myself here. When we read this book, there are things that God is going to say, you need to change, Webster. You need to stop doing this thing or you need to start doing this thing. And at such times we don't want to change, do we? Nobody likes to change. That's when we need to get on our knees and say, oh God, help me to love the truth. Help me to follow what you're calling me to do. Give me your power, Give me your strength. That's what Paul is talking about here. There's one more thing, and that is we need to heed God's final warning. God gives us a final warning. Let's notice it in Revelation 18. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. Thank God for angels again here in Revelation, having great authority. And the earth was illuminated with his glory. Thank God for that. Because you're going to see, the world is going to be so dark, but God is going to bring light. Just before the end, it was illuminated with his glory. He cried mightily with a loud voice saying, babylon the great is fallen, is fallen and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit. How come the demons have taken over these three powers? Now let me show you why. Notice what John six next says. Next. For because all the nations have drunk the wine of the wrath of their fornication. The false doctrines lead to demon possession. Listen, my friend, I sometimes hear people say, all you need is Jesus. But what do you mean by that? Many people say you don't need doctrine. That is totally wrong, my friend. It's doctrine that shows us what Jesus is like. It's doctrine that shows us how to live the life of Jesus. And false teachings are going to lead to demon control in the end of time. So don't believe that lie. That doctrine is not important. It's a ploy of the devil so that people will not study the word of God carefully to be saved. And then comes the night cry not from a little boy scared of the dark, but from God himself for his love for people who are trapped in Babylon. Notice what God says. I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people. I love this passage, my friend, because God has his friends scattered in all those different isms and religions and worldviews. Non Christian religions, Christian religions, ideologies. God has his people. But he says you can't stay there. Come out, my people. And those who have a heart for God, they will follow God. Come out of her, my people. Lest you share in her sins. Lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven and God has remembered her iniquities. Wow. Do you see what's happening, friend? God calls people to come out of Babylon. Come out of Babylon the Great. You can't stay there. The Bible says Babylon the Great. What is it? Christian and non Christian religions and worldviews that are not following God and his word. You cannot stay there. God says it's fallen beyond repair. Leave. Run for your life. Now that's not Webster's words, that's God's words. You cannot stay where you are. If you belong to one of these groups, you must leave. God says to stay is to sin. You receive the plagues. God says you must run for your life. You must come out. Cause sin's gonna bring destruction on everybody who's in Babylon. And you know, my friend, in the end of time, there's only two groups. There's those people who are inside Babylon who refuse to leave. And there's those people who come outside of Babylon. And God calls those who are outside of Babylon, they are saved. Those who stay in Babylon, they will be lost. It's just that clear in the Bible. Come out, my people. Why? Because I love you. I don't want you to participate in the sins by staying where you are. Run for your life. Now let's go back to ancient Babylon for a moment. When the Jewish people left ancient Babylon, notice who came out. The Bible says a remnant of Israel left Babylon. The Bible says now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God, that's the temple at Jerusalem, the remnant will come out of the captivity that's Babylon to Jerusalem. So who was it that came out of Babylon? They were called the Remnant. A remnant came out of Babylon back to Jerusalem. Now John sees a remnant. These are the ones who are leaving End time Babylon. And they're going to go to the new Jerusalem. Do you see what John is doing? Drawing on these stories, but giving them a global application? The dragon was wroth. He was angry with the woman and he went to make War with who? The remnant of her seed. Those ones who are going to come out and they're going to be faithful to God. They are called the remnant. Those who come out. Now, my friend, how do you and I leave Babylon when maybe we're a pastor or a priest in there. Maybe we're a head guru or something. Maybe our family's been there for years. We grew up there in that denomination that was part of our life. We're a minister. Whatever it is. How do you leave when all of that has been very dear to you? Well, let me tell you, it's impossible for you and I to do that, but it's not impossible when you have God. So how do you overcome Babylon? Meaning how do you come out when God says come out? Let me show you. The Bible says, John says after the plagues he's talking about, I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. And those who have the victory over the beast, that's the sea beast. And over his image, they come out. And over his mark, they don't take the mark, they keep God's seal. And over the number of his name, they were standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb. What's going on here, my friend? You see, when Israel went across the Red Sea and the Egyptians were drowned, they sang a song beside the sea. It's called the song of Moses. And you read it in Exodus 15. It goes something like this. Oh, God. We were caught between a rock and a hard place. The sea was in front of us, the Egyptians were breathing fire behind us, so to speak. The mountains cut us off that way. We were dead meat, as we say. But then God, you showed up and you blew with your winds. You see, it's not the power of people that saved them. The power of God. How did they get out of Egypt? Remember, those plagues were devastating ancient Egypt. How did they leave Egypt? Well, you recall God said to Pharaoh, listen, if you don't let my people go on this last time, then all the firstborn are going to die. God said to Moses, you tell the Israelites to get a sheep and kill the sheep and take the blood and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts of their houses and go inside the house. And when the angel of death comes along, he will pass over your homes and not destroy anybody if he sees the blood. Which pointed to Jesus. When the Egyptians firstborn died and the Israelites didn't die because of the blood. They said, get out of here. Leave this place. We've had enough of you people. And they let them go. You see, what God is saying is this. We can only overcome the dragon, the sea beast, the land beast. We can only leave through Calvary love, Calvary power. When we come to Christ and say, lord, help me, that gives us the power to do the impossible. John says, then I looked, and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed, my friend. Come, follow the Lamb. The Lamb will help you leave Babylon. Leave those denominations that you know are not following the truth. For example, not keeping the Sabbath, not sharing the three angels and so on. We talked about that. The only two groups in the End of time, Babylon and the Remnant. If we stay in Babylon, we will receive the plagues. If we leave, we will be saved. We need to come out, you see, to come home. My oldest sister used to have a poem book. It was a little thin exercise book, but it grew over the years. And I used to love reading one poem in particular. It was called Come Along, Daddy. It's about a young girl. Her mama died, and the dad was an alcoholic, and that's why the mom died. He drank the food money, he drank all the clothing money. And so the family was pretty destitute. And they lived in a very cold country where there was, you know, minus 20 degrees in the wintertime. So this is what happened after mom died. Little Sally had two or three kids, and she look at two or three sisters and brothers. She'd look after them. She's only 12 years of age. Dad would be down the hotel drinking. So she would go down to the hotel and she would tug on his coat. Come along, Daddy. Home's this way. Because he was too drunk to get home, so she'd bring him home. That went on night after night, day after day. Well, come wintertime, and the kids are sick, Sally's very sick. But she keeps going down there to bring dad home. Finally, she's so sick she can hardly get out of bed. And one night, she stumbles out of bed, goes to the hotel. But on the way there, she falls a few times and picks herself up and gets to the hotel. Dad's at the bar, drinking. She pulls on his coat. Come along, Daddy. Home's this way. But dad hasn't had enough yet. Says, get on, you little brat. And he pushes her and she falls on the floor. Little Sally picks herself up and makes her way home. She Stumbles, she falls, picks herself up and finally she collapses on the pathway leading to the house. When she gets through the gate, can't get up anymore. A drunken dad comes home a few hours later. He's so blind he can't see what's on the pathway. He curses and swears at this thing, gives it a kick and goes inside and goes to sleep. Next day he sobered up a little bit. He comes outside and to his horror, there is his little Sally, frozen dead on the pathway. You know, I thought of that story and I thought that's what Jesus has done for us, to bring us home, to get us out of Babylon, to bring us home. He's given his life. Won't we listen to the good Shepherd's voice and follow Jesus? Come out to come home. Oh God loves us, my friend. We need to come out, come out of Babylon so we can come home. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for your love. Thank you for giving us this amazing book that helps us know what's going on today. Nearing the end, Jesus is coming soon. Lord, there are those who are watching. They you love them, Lord. They belong to different denominations, different religions, maybe no religion. But the spirit of God is speaking to them right now. Lord. Help them to say, Lord, help me to move now. Help me to come out. Help me to make this decision, to come out and be part of your great remnant, your movement of destiny. Lord, I pray that you will bless us now. Help us and thank you. When we cry to you for help, you say, yes, here I am. Thank you. In Jesus name, amen. Well, we are so glad that you were with us in this presentation. It's a very powerful one from John's book, isn't it? I thank God for these presentations that he gives us from the Bible. It's touched my own heart because we're all journeying toward that everlasting city, aren't we? Don't miss our next presentation coming up. We're going to be looking at Holocaust Horizons of Hope. Mighty good news there. We're going to share but also a reality check on what is happening in our world. Don't miss Horizons of Hope when we look at Holocaust. Invite a friend. They will be so glad you did that. May God bless you. We look forward to seeing you in our next countdown Back to the Future presentation.
