Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000022
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00:15 Our presentation is entitled Babylon Is Alive and Well
00:18 that's the study guide, and also God has a Church on Earth 00:24 No Kidding! 00:25 Now last evening we spent some time looking at Babylon 00:28 and we're going to spend some more time in Revelation 17. 00:31 But the first passage of scripture I would like to 00:33 take you to is actually in Ezekiel 9, 00:36 Ezekiel 9, let's go there together, we will probably begin 00:39 in chapter 8 to sort of set the context for chapter 9, 00:42 you can find Ezekiel, that's the book right before Daniel. 00:45 We're going to Ezekiel, and we'll start in chapter 8, 00:49 Ezekiel chapter 8, and this is going to help us understand 00:54 the seriousness and the urgency of the co-mingling of truth 01:01 and error, the seriousness and the urgency of the 01:04 co-mingling of that which is true and Biblical 01:07 with that which is not true and is un-biblical. 01:10 So I'm in Ezekiel 8:1, and here is chapter 8 we find 01:14 the prophet Ezekiel receiving a Tour de Force of the 01:18 abominations and error that encrypt in even to Israel 01:21 and we're going to sort of take this tour with Ezekiel. 01:25 It's really kind of fascinating how the tour takes place 01:27 God takes Ezekiel by a lock of his hair, and in prophetic 01:31 vision, lifts him up by his hair and actually starts 01:34 taking him around on as we've said a Tour de Force 01:37 of all of the abominations that were taking place 01:40 and the abominations subsequently get worse, 01:42 and worse, and worse, and worse, so let's pick that up 01:46 in Ezekiel 8, beginning in verse one: 01:48 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, 01:51 on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the 01:54 elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord 01:56 fell upon me there. 01:58 Then I looked, and there was a likeness, 01:59 like the appearance of fire -from the appearance 02:02 of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, 02:05 like the appearance of brightness, 02:07 like the color of amber. 02:08 Here he is seeing God in vision, verse 3. 02:11 He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me 02:14 by a lock of my hair; and the Spirit lifted me up 02:17 between earth and heaven, and brought me in visions of 02:19 God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate 02:22 of the inner court, where the seat of the image of jealousy 02:25 was, which provokes to jealousy. 02:27 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, 02:31 like the vision that I saw in the plain. 02:33 Then He said to me, Son of man, lift your eyes now 02:36 toward the north. 02:37 So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, 02:38 north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy 02:41 in the entrance. 02:43 That is to say, right in the very entrance of the temple 02:46 of God there was an idol that had been set up. 02:49 Verse 6. Furthermore He said to me, 02:51 Son of man, do you see what they are doing, 02:53 the great abominations that the house of Israel commits here 02:56 to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? 02:59 Now turn again, you will see greater abominations. 03:02 And so God here takes Ezekiel and brings him right to the gate 03:06 of the temple, the entrance of the temple, 03:07 and sitting was an alter, an image to a pagan God, 03:12 and he says, do you see this? 03:13 Do you see this image of jealousy right in the very 03:16 entrance to my temple and Ezekiel would have said yes 03:19 I see that Lord, and he said I will show you even greater 03:21 abominations than these. 03:23 Verse 7. So He brought me to the door of the court; 03:25 and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. 03:27 Then He said to me, Son of man, dig into the wall; 03:30 and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. 03:32 And He said to me, Go in, and see the wicked 03:34 abominations which they are doing there. 03:35 Now remember this is in the temple, not some pagan temple 03:39 of the temple of Baal, this is the temple of God. 03:41 Verse 10. So I went in and saw, and there-every sort of 03:44 creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols 03:47 of the house of Israel, portrayed all around 03:49 on the walls. 03:50 And there stood before them seventy men of the elders 03:52 of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah 03:56 the son of Shaphan. 03:57 Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud 04:00 of incense went up. 04:01 Then He said to me, Son of man, have you seen 04:02 what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, 04:05 every man in the room of his idols? 04:07 For they say, "The LORD does not see us, 04:09 the LORD has forsaken us. " 04:11 Verse 13. And He said to me, Turn again, and you will see 04:14 greater abominations than these they are doing. 04:17 And so he takes them from the image of jealousy 04:19 and now he brings them, he says you see this hole 04:21 in this temple wall, I see it dig into that hole, go in there 04:24 into the temple and see what the priests are doing 04:27 in darkness, and as Ezekiel the prophet of the Lord 04:30 is sort of like a fly on the wall, 04:32 looking through the keyhole there, and he sees that God's 04:35 own priests, God's what everyone? 04:37 God's own priests were worshiping idols in an 04:42 absolutely incredible way, right in the very temple, 04:45 right in the very house of God, and I can just imagine 04:48 in my mind's eye Ezekiel saying I can't believe this. 04:50 I can't believe that the professed people of God 04:54 are worshiping these idols in the temple of God. 04:58 But he said to them, you think this is bad, 05:00 you'll see even worse abominations than these. 05:02 I'm in verse 14, So He brought me to the door 05:05 of the north gate of the Lord's house; and to my dismay, 05:08 women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 05:11 That's one of the fertility Gods of paganism, 05:14 Then He said to me, Have you seen this, 05:16 O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater 05:18 abominations than these. 05:19 Here were people who were weeping for this pagan goddess 05:23 Tammuz, and you can just imagine God saying 05:25 see this Ezekiel, these are my people. 05:27 These aren't the heathen, these aren't the gentiles, 05:29 these aren't the pagan's, these are my people 05:31 see what they are doing, and I can just imagine 05:33 Ezekiel saying, I see it Lord, but I can hardly believe it, 05:36 and he says you will see greater abominations even than these. 05:39 Verse 16. So He brought me into the inner court of the 05:42 Lord's house; and there, at the door of the temple 05:45 of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, 05:47 were about twenty-five men with their backs toward 05:49 the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, 05:51 and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. 05:56 And He said to me, Have you seen this, 05:57 O son of man? 05:58 Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit 06:01 the abominations which they commit here? 06:02 For they have filled the land with violence; 06:05 then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. 06:07 Indeed they put the branch to their nose. 06:09 That's kind of an unusual ancient way of saying that 06:13 they are basically snuffing at me, disinterested in me. 06:17 Verse 18. Therefore I also will act in fury. 06:20 My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; 06:22 and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, 06:25 I will not hear them. 06:26 When God is taking Ezekiel on this sort of Tour de Force 06:29 of the abominations of Israel, He caps it off 06:32 with the capstone, the most egregious violation 06:36 was the worship of the sun in the very temple of God. 06:39 At each subsequent stage He said you see this, 06:42 I see this, you will see worse. 06:44 Do you see this, I see this, you will see worse. 06:46 Do you see this, I see it, you will see worse. 06:48 And as the capstone, as the crescendo, he brings them 06:51 right in to the very house of God, and they are worshipping 06:54 the sun in the temple of God. 06:57 Fascinating, if you go on to read then in Ezekiel 9 07:02 it's very interesting what happens in Ezekiel 9 is 07:05 people receive a mark, people receive a what everyone? 07:08 They receive a mark, and it is fascinating because that 07:12 it parallel's exactly what the seal of God, and the mark 07:14 of the beast that we discover there in Revelation 07:16 chapter 13, and those that didn't have God's mark, 07:19 and those that didn't have God's seal were slain. 07:23 Are we talking about serious things? 07:25 Are we talking about unimportant things, which one? 07:27 Serious things beloved, and so in Ezekiel 8 and Ezekiel 9, 07:31 we saw the worship of the son right in the very temple of God 07:36 we're talking about Babylon, and we learned yesterday 07:38 that Babylon is the center of man made worship. 07:40 They built the tower of Babel and they said come let us build 07:43 a tower up into the highest of the high heavens, 07:45 and many expositors have recognized that they were 07:47 going to probably build a temple high, high, high, 07:49 and a tower high, high, high, so if a flood ever came again 07:52 they could save themselves by their own what? 07:54 By their own works, and so Babylon represented man made 07:58 religion, but Babylon was also the center of image worship 08:01 and we talked about how all systems and streams of 08:04 idolatry flowed from that fountain head stream there 08:08 in Babylon. 08:09 So not only was it the center of image worship, 08:11 not only was it the center of man made religion, 08:13 it was the center of false teaching about death. 08:16 False teachings about what every one? 08:18 Death! And we talked about this idea of the immortality 08:21 of the soul, and how that crept into the church, 08:24 and through the back door. 08:25 It was basically a pagan concept that was adopted 08:29 by the Pharisee's, that was adopted by the early church, 08:32 that is to say the Catholics, and has been bequeathed 08:35 as a sacred legacy to Protestantism, 08:37 but the idea of innate immortality 08:39 or innate inherent immortality 08:41 is not a Biblical teaching at all, in fact it's a pagan 08:44 teaching called Platonic dualism, sometimes referred to 08:47 as anthropological dualism. 08:49 So now we're going to discover that Babylon is also the center 08:53 of sun worship, the center of what everyone? 08:55 Sun worship, and that is right there in your study guide. 08:58 The Worship of Nature Volume 1 James Brazer this is from 09:01 page 529: 09:30 So this was a politically motivated thing. 09:33 Constantine basically looked out at his empire, 09:35 he saw that he had a significant percentage that were Christians 09:38 a significant percentage that were pagans, 09:40 and out of political expediency he decided to try an amalgamate, 09:45 what word did I say everyone? 09:47 Amalgamate which means to combine, he tried to combine 09:51 this pseudo paganism, with this pseudo Christianity 09:54 and bring it all together, and the Christians were excited 09:57 about it, because they thought it was evangelism, 09:58 the problem was is that those people who were coming in 10:01 to the church, were not leaving their old ways 10:03 at the door, they were bringing those old ways in to the church. 10:06 And so the people were not converted, they were simply 10:09 making a profession, they were making a what everyone? 10:12 Profession, in fact that's what most historians 10:14 believe about Constantine's own conversion. 10:16 They believe that he didn't have anything like a conversion 10:18 most historians, they believe that Constantine's conversion 10:21 was strictly a politically expedient thing to do 10:25 in order to sort of bring unity to his empire. 10:27 One of the things that they did is, they united the Christian 10:31 Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Lord with the venerable day of 10:34 the sun, and eventually for a time there, both days were kept 10:38 then eventually the Sabbath day began to fall off, 10:40 and Sunday receives increasing and increasing prominence, 10:43 that's exactly what's being communicated here. 10:44 Now notice this one from the Catholic World, 10:46 March 1984, page 809, from William Gildea: 11:09 The quotation goes on: 11:35 So it was a transference of the venerable day of the sun 11:40 S- U-N over to the Son of God S-O-N, that's not something 11:45 that Jesus did, that's not something the Apostolic church 11:47 did, that's something that took place in the 3rd and 4th 11:51 centuries as the church began to accommodate paganism. 11:55 If that makes sense I want you to say Amen. 11:57 And that's why we consistently offered ten thousand dollars 11:59 cash for anybody who can produce any text that says that 12:03 Jesus changed the Sabbath or that God changed the Sabbath 12:06 or that the Apostolic church changed the Sabbath. 12:09 Are we together on that everyone? 12:10 There was a change in the Sabbath, but it wasn't done 12:13 under Jesus authority, it wasn't done under the Apostolic 12:15 Church's authority, of course not, 12:17 of course they wouldn't have done anything contrary to what 12:18 Jesus had done anyway. 12:19 There was a change, but that change took place in the 12:22 3rd and 4th centuries, when basically pseudo Christianity 12:26 began to accommodate paganism, and they amalgamated 12:29 into something that was hardly indistinguishable from paganism 12:33 itself, just put a nice little Christian veneer 12:35 over the top of it. 12:37 So notice this one here, from the two Babylon's 12:39 by Dr. Alexander Hislop page 105: 12:54 In other words they were going to bring together 12:55 Christian festivals, i. e. the Sabbath and the pagan festivals, 13:00 i. e. the venerable day of the sun and the pagan festivals 13:03 to bring them together: 13:14 Dr. Hislop said it was Rome's policy basically to allow these 13:19 sort of leagues to come together where this group would come 13:24 and this group would come and they would just sort of 13:25 amalgamate themselves into the existing culture, 13:28 rather than standing for Bible truth and for the truth of God. 13:31 And that was Rome's policy and they've pursued it 13:33 very effectively. 13:35 Dr. E. T. Hiscock the author of the Baptist Manuel 13:37 we've quoted this before at length, we'll just quote it 13:39 quickly here: 13:54 And he is basically letting us know here 13:56 this is the origin of Sunday. 13:59 It's called the sun-day for good reason, 14:02 and the same way that Monday is the moon-day, 14:04 and Thursday is Thor's-day, and Saturday is Saturn's-day. 14:07 Sunday was the day on which venerable day of the sun 14:11 was carried out, the worship of the sun-god. 14:14 And notice this here in Ezekiel chapter 22:26: 14:44 There was already a concern in the days of Ezekiel 14:47 that the priests had basically abandoned the distinction 14:50 between what God has made as holy, and what is not holy, 14:54 between what declares as clean and what is unclean, 14:57 and that is exactly what is happening today. 14:59 You will meet many good pastors, and don't get me wrong, 15:01 I've met Methodist pastors, and Presbyterian pastors, 15:04 and Baptist pastors, all who love the Lord very much, 15:07 I don't question their sincerity or their commitment to Him, 15:10 but when you ask these men, why go to church on Sunday, 15:14 when the bible says the Sabbath. 15:16 In time, after time, after time, meeting, after meeting, 15:19 after meeting, I hear things like well that's the day 15:22 everybody goes,it would be impossible to change it, 15:25 it would be inconvenient to change it. 15:27 And you just hear a list of excuses, and a list of 15:29 justifications and rationalizations a mile long, 15:32 and incidentaly, 15:33 if you go talk to your pastors you are going to get the 15:34 same list of justifications, 15:36 the same list of rationalizations a mile long, 15:38 but at the end of the day, it's all about convenience. 15:42 It's all about what everyone? 15:43 Convenience, and that is what it is about, 15:46 it's not about the Bible, it's not about what the Lord says, 15:49 it's not about what the Word say's, it's about what is 15:51 convenient and accommodating the culture. 15:55 Accommodating what everyone? 15:56 The culture, but if I read my Bible right 15:58 Jesus did not accommodate culture when it came to a plain 16:01 Thus saith the Lord, Jesus in fact became in many instances 16:05 anti-culture, not that Jesus was out to be obnoxious 16:08 or obstinate, but Jesus always stood on what He knew 16:12 was God's will and God's complaint here in Ezekiel 16:15 is that the priests, that is the religious spiritual leaders 16:18 were not making a distinction, not making a what everyone? 16:22 A distinction between that which is sacred, 16:27 and that which is not, between that which is clean, 16:29 and that which is not. 16:30 If somebody says to you, all days are the same, 16:32 it doesn't matter, it is not a big deal, you know that 16:36 they are making a distinction between what God has said 16:39 is holy, and what is un-holy. 16:41 Does that make sense everyone? 16:42 Someone says, well every day is holy, you should worship 16:45 the Lord every day, no one is arguing with that, 16:47 you want to go to church on Monday, praise the Lord, 16:49 you want to go to church on Tuesday, praise the Lord, 16:51 Wednesday, praise the Lord, Thursday, no problem 16:53 with any of that, but let's be crystal clear about something 16:55 it was God, not a church, it was God not Pastor Asscherick, 16:59 it was God not a man, that originally set the 17:03 Sabbath aside, can you say Amen to that? 17:05 David didn't invent that, David didn't say you know, 17:09 let's have fun, let's say that one day is more important 17:11 than the another. 17:12 God was the one who said that not me, and apparently 17:15 it was important enough to God, and morally significant 17:17 enough to God, to write it with His own finger 17:19 on tables of stone, and take those tablets and place them 17:22 in the ark, which is the very sign and symbol of the 17:25 throne of God. 17:26 So here is my rationale, if it's important to God, 17:28 by definition it should be important to God's followers. 17:32 Does that make sense, and so we can say, well you know 17:35 I don't know, to me it just doesn't seem important. 17:37 Beloved, who care if it seems important to you, 17:41 since when do Christians do things that "seem" "important" 17:44 and decide that we're "not" going to do things that "don't" 17:46 "seem" important, I was just visiting with my friend Angela 17:48 the other day, and Angela like me, loves to go knocking 17:51 on doors, and telling people about the love of Jesus, Amen! 17:53 And some people say, well you know that's not really for me, 17:56 that doesn't seem like something that's important, 17:58 that doesn't seem like something that I would want to do. 18:00 Beloved it is not what you think seems right, it's not what 18:03 you think seem ok, or seems justified, it's what God says. 18:08 Amen! 18:09 I mean beloved in the final analysis for me and my purposes 18:13 and I hope for you and your purposes, if it's in the Bible 18:15 I believe it, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. 18:18 So far so good everyone? 18:21 Pretty simple, and so God was concerned about religious 18:23 leaders, and said well it's really not important, 18:26 well, it's really not a big deal. 18:28 They made no distinction, they made no difference between 18:30 the sacred and the profane. 18:32 Jesus put it this way in Mark 7:7, and by the way, 18:35 no preacher would have been a grace filled preacher 18:38 a more spirit filled preacher than Jesus, and yet Jesus said: 18:47 And that's exactly what's happening today. 18:49 Doctrines are being taught but they are the commandments 18:52 of men, rather than the commandments of God. 18:54 So let's go to end time Babylon here and let's see if we can 18:58 identify exactly who this is right there on your study guide 19:00 and we're going to go to Revelation 17. 19:02 Revelation 17, and so we've looked at these four critical 19:07 areas that Babylon basically exemplifies, 19:09 1. It is a man-made system of religion, 19:12 this is all in your study guide. 19:13 2. It is the center of image worship. 19:16 3. It is the center of false teachings about death. 19:19 4. Babylon was the center of sun worship. 19:23 All of those things are incorporated into this Biblical 19:26 term of Babylon and so when we go to Revelation 17 19:29 and we find here in verse 5, that she is called mystery 19:32 Babylon the Great the mother of harlots and of the 19:35 abominations of the earth, 19:36 we have to go back and Biblically see what that means. 19:39 What does it mean Biblically Babylon? 19:41 It is a system that is confusing, 19:43 it is a system of man-made religion, 19:45 it's a system of image worship, it's a system of sun worship, 19:49 it's a system of false teachings about death, 19:51 and this woman here, this false church is branded with 19:55 this emblazon placard across her forehead, 19:58 "Mystery Babylon the Great" the mother of harlots 20:02 and of the abominations of the earth. 20:04 Now let's see if we can identify exactly who this is. 20:06 First of all, number one she's a church, 20:09 how do we know that, because in chapter one it 20:11 says: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bulls 20:13 came and talked with me saying: 20:14 "Come and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot 20:17 who sits on many waters. " 20:18 The great what everyone? 20:20 Harlot, that is the great woman and as we have already discussed 20:23 a woman in Bible Prophecy represents what? 20:26 A church or God's true people, and so if you have a chased 20:28 woman like in Revelation 12, that would be God's true people, 20:31 and if you have an unfaithful woman like in Revelation 20:33 chapter 17, that would be an unfaithful church. 20:35 Does that make sense everyone, yes or no, very, very clear. 20:38 So she is a church, she sits on an area of many, many, nations 20:41 look at chapter 17:2, with whom the kings of the earth 20:45 have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth 20:47 were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 20:51 Notice that she sits on many waters, last part of verse one, 20:54 and so you jump down to verse 15 of the same chapter. 20:57 Verse 15 of the same chapter, Then he the angel said to me, 20:59 The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, 21:02 are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. 21:05 and so she is depicted as sitting on water, 21:06 we've already seen that water and Bible Prophecy 21:08 represent a populous area, and so she sits on an area 21:12 of many nations. 21:13 3. She is a city, jump down to the last verse of that 21:18 chapter, Revelation 13:18, And the woman whom you saw 21:23 is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. 21:28 and so whoever this is, it's a city as well. 21:30 So it's a church that sits on an area of many nations 21:33 that's a city we've already seen, that rules over kings 21:36 that is to say is in illicit fornication like relationships 21:41 with the kings of the earth the secular governing authorities. 21:43 Also this is a city of seven hills. 21:47 A city of what everyone? 21:48 Seven hills, look at verse 9, Here is the mind which has 21:51 wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which 21:56 the woman sits. 21:57 And so it's a city that sets on seven hills or seven mountains. 22:01 6. Their official colors are purple and what? 22:04 Scarlet, we saw that there in verse 3, 22:06 a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, verse 4, 22:09 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, 22:11 and adorned with gold and precious stones 22:13 and as we've already discussed there were four colors 22:18 do you remember those four colors: Purple, scarlet, blue, 22:22 and gold, let's say that together: Purple, scarlet, 22:27 blue, and gold, ok. 22:29 But this woman is missing one of those colors, 22:31 which color is she missing? 22:32 Blue, what did blue represent? 22:34 Ten Commandments, in fact let me show you something 22:37 quite fascinating it's right there in your study guide, 22:39 go to Numbers 15, but keep your finger here in Revelation 22:42 17, go to Numbers 15, but keep your finger here. 22:44 Numbers 15 fourth book of the Old Testament, Numbers 15, 22:49 and I think you will find this language very interesting, 22:51 Numbers 15: beginning in verse 37, Numbers 15, 22:56 beginning in verse 37, I want everybody to get there, 23:00 tell me if you find this language striking, yes or no? 23:04 Numbers 15:37 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23:08 Speak to the children of Israel: 23:10 Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments 23:12 throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread 23:16 in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassel, 23:19 that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments 23:22 of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow 23:27 the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes 23:34 are inclined, and that you may remember and do all 23:36 My commandments, of the Lord your God, for I am holy, 23:40 I am the Lord. 23:41 Isn't that absolutely fascinating, notice what it says 23:45 put blue on your garments to remember what everyone? 23:47 The Commandments so that you won't go after harlotry 23:52 and what do we find in Revelation 17? 23:54 We find a harlot woman, who is wearing who is wearing 23:56 all of colors of the high priest, she's got the purple, 23:59 she's got the scarlet, she's got the gold, but what color 24:00 is she missing? 24:02 The blue, she's pretending to be if you prefer, 24:06 she's pretending to be God's high priest. 24:09 God's church on earth, but she has forgotten 24:13 God's commandments, if that makes sense say Amen! 24:16 Absolutely fascinating, so we go here, she is wearing 24:20 purple and scarlet, she's obviously wealthy, 24:22 that's inferred from the text you can also read 24:24 in chapter 18:3, let's go back to Revelation 24:25 as a matter of fact. 24:26 I should have kept a pen or a ribbon or a finger of something 24:30 there so we could just flip back quickly. 24:31 It says in chapter 18:3 that she is a rich church 24:35 we jump down now to number 8, she is a persecuting church 24:38 it says right there in the passage, 24:39 we're looking at verse 6, I saw the woman who was drunk 24:42 with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the 24:44 martyrs of Jesus, and also she is blasphemous, so she has 24:48 emblazon right across her forehead, 24:49 Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots. 24:53 So she clearly is a blasphemous power, and so when we put all 24:58 all of these together, when we put together a church 25:01 that sits on an area of many nations, 25:03 that is a city that rules over kings, 25:05 that has seven mountains or seven hills, by the way, 25:08 what city is the city of seven mountains? 25:10 It's the city of Rome, that's exactly right, I looked it up 25:12 just today and incidentally in Wikipedia, just type that in 25:14 city of seven mountains, [voom] takes you right to Rome 25:17 it names all of the seven mountains, and then it takes you 25:20 right to this very verse in Revelation 17, and it says 25:23 that this is a widely held reference in Protestantism 25:26 to Rome. 25:28 Right there, listen beloved, you can go right to Wikipedia 25:31 now that does not mean that you can trust everything 25:33 you can find on the internet, someone say Amen. 25:34 I mean the internet is a sewer, there's good and there's bad 25:38 on there, and the problem is that any whacko can get 25:40 a website, and he can start saying thus and so, thus and so. 25:43 So don't trust everything you read on the internet, Amen! 25:46 But you can trust everything you read in the Bible, Amen! 25:49 By the way some people say oh you know I looked up 25:51 David Asscherick on the internet, and I found out he was 25:53 a Seventh Day Adventist, and he was a member of a cult. 25:56 Beloved just ask me what church I go to, 25:58 I'll tell you what church I go to, I have no shame in that. 26:00 I believe that God's seventh day Sabbath is an important day 26:03 how many of you believe that God's seventh day Sabbath 26:06 is an important day, ok there you go. 26:08 Your seventh day too, now I believe that Jesus Christ 26:11 is coming soon, how many of you believe that Jesus Christ 26:13 is coming soon? 26:14 Ok, then that means you are an Adventist, 26:16 because you believe in the advent of the Lord, 26:19 does that make sense, and so you are a 26:21 Seventh Day Adventist, that's what I mean when I say I'm a 26:23 Seventh Day Adventist, I'm a Seventh Day Adventist Bible 26:26 believing spirit filled Christian, 26:27 everything that comes from the Bible I want to follow it, 26:29 can you say Amen! 26:30 There's nothing mysterious, there's nothing spooky 26:32 there's nothing unusual about that title. 26:34 it means that I believe that God's seventh day Sabbath 26:37 is important because it's the commandment that begins with 26:39 the word remember, and the whole world has decided to forget. 26:42 Number one and number two I believe that Jesus is soon to 26:46 come and put an end to this dismal and dark 26:48 disease ridden world, can you say Amen to that? 26:50 So that's what I'm saying when I say I'm a Seventh Day Adventist. 26:52 I looked him up on the internet, he's a Seventh Day Adventist 26:54 let me tell you something, no shame in that, 26:56 but here is something absolutely critical, 26:58 if websites had existed in the days of Jesus, 27:01 do you know what they would have said about Jesus? 27:02 Listen, they called Him the devil to His face, 27:07 they called Him a Samaritan to His face, 27:10 they called Him a glutton and a wine bibber to His face. 27:13 You can imagine what the anonymity of the internet 27:15 would do, I mean that's the thing about the internet, 27:16 nobody can see you. 27:18 There is no accountability, Joe Schmoe starts up a web page 27:21 and says anything that he wants to say, 27:22 people get on there, they think because it's on a computer 27:25 it's credible, beloved, the internet may or may not be 27:28 credible, but the Bible is always credible. 27:31 Amen! 27:32 Amen and Amen to that! 27:33 And so who could this possibly be, who could this church 27:35 possibly be: 27:39 There is only one answer, and by the way this is not 27:42 something that Pastor Asscherick just invented, 27:43 number one it's Biblical, number two this is the historic 27:47 interpretation of Protestantism. 27:49 It is the what did I say everyone? 27:51 The historic interpretation of Protestantism, you say 27:55 Protestantism, why do you keep using that term? 27:57 It's root word is protest, Protestants protested, 28:01 what were they protesting? 28:02 The abuses of the mother church, and so today I stand before you 28:06 absolutely proud to be a Protestant, because when I 28:10 protest the abuses of the church what I'm standing for is truth, 28:14 If that makes sense say Amen. 28:15 Ok, that's not to align myself with any religious entity 28:19 heresy, I'm in and you're out and you are not part 28:21 of my club, no!, no! no! We are protesting the abuses 28:25 of the church, does that make sense everyone? 28:27 Amen! 28:29 So look at this, this is just from a regular run of the mill, 28:32 it's actually quite an excellent Bible Commentary, 28:34 Protestant Bible Commentary, Jamieson Fausset and Brown, 28:37 page 593 commenting on this very chapter: 28:51 Absolutely incredible notice this: 29:07 You are still there in Revelation 17, 29:09 look at Revelation 18, Revelation 18 beginning 29:12 in verse one, After these things I saw another angel 29:15 coming down from heaven, having great authority, 29:17 and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 29:18 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 29:20 Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, 29:24 whenever the Bible says something like that twice 29:26 it's for emphasis, it is not that John is stuttering 29:28 what he is saying is it's fallen, it's fallen, 29:31 it means it's absolutely positively sure 29:33 Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen and has become 29:36 a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, 29:42 and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 29:43 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath 29:46 of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed 29:48 fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth 29:51 that's the joining of the church and state by the way, 29:53 you can see it plain as the noon day sun there, 29:55 the merchants of the earth have become rich through the 29:57 abundance of her luxury. 4. And I heard another voice 30:00 from heaven saying, Come out of what, her, who's her? 30:05 Babylon, come out of Babylon notice the next two words? 30:09 my people, lest you share in her what, sins, and lest 30:13 you receive of her what, plagues, does God have His 30:16 people in Babylon, yes or no? 30:18 Absolutely, he un-ashamedly calls them his people, 30:21 he says come out of her my people. 30:24 That's exactly what they are saying here in the commentary 30:26 look at it again: It says for apostate Christendom. 30:29 Babylon is not to be converted but what destroyed, 30:33 notice it says the first justification of the woman 30:35 is in her being called out of what? 30:37 Babylon, they are called out of Babylon, ok, that is to say 30:42 come out because it is going to be destroyed. 30:45 In the very same way that Lot was brought out of the city 30:49 so that Sodom could be destroyed, so that Gomorrah 30:51 could be destroyed, God says to His people, 30:53 I don't want you to share in her plagues, 30:55 I don't want you to share in her sins. 30:56 Come out of Babylon so that you do not participate 31:00 in her destruction. 31:01 Now if that makes sense say Amen! 31:04 So let's go to our study guide here 31:05 and we can go all the way to the last page, 31:10 or not the last page, pardon me, the third page. 31:12 Come out of her my people, third page, Revelation 18: 1-5, 31:17 finds God calling His people out of end time Babylon. 31:22 God claims the people, but the system that teach error 31:26 and ignore the plain teachings of the Bible, 31:28 are judged and disavowed. 31:30 The importance of this point simply cannot be overstated, 31:33 like Lot of old, God calls His people out prior 31:36 to the coming destruction. 31:37 Babylon is not to be converted but what, destroyed. 31:42 Babylon is not to be converted, Babylon is to be destroyed, 31:46 God has his precious people in Babylon and He calls them out. 31:50 It is not difficult discern whether or not 31:52 one is in Babylon, one need only ask and answer 31:55 a simple question, here it is. 31:56 I wonder if he is talking about me? 31:58 I wonder if this chapter is talking about me? 32:00 I wonder if God's talking about me when He says 32:02 come out of Babylon, all you have to do is ask 32:03 and answer one question, and here it is. 32:05 Does my church, my community of faith, contain any residual 32:09 papal, pagan, or Babylonian elements or teachings. 32:14 That's all you have to do is answer that one question. 32:18 Does my church contain any residual paganism, 32:21 any residual papalism, and any residual Babylonianism? 32:24 And if the answer to that question is yes, 32:25 then you are in Babylon. 32:27 Look at it there in Revelation 17:5, 32:30 And on her forehead a name was written: 32:35 MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS 32:39 AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 32:41 And so this mother church has daughters, 32:45 this mother church has what everyone? 32:47 Daughters, and those daughters are any churches that cling 32:52 to residual papalism, or residual papalism, 32:55 that is what the Bible is calling Babylon. 32:59 Now you might be thinking whoa, Pastor Asscherick is 33:01 speaking so strongly here, no Pastor Asscherick's not 33:03 speaking strongly, the Bible is speaking strongly. 33:06 If we have, and I know we have, correctly identified Babylon, 33:09 then Babylon's daughters would be those churches that are not 33:13 identical to Babylon, but are similar. 33:16 Are what everyone? 33:17 Similar, I will give you a case and point, 33:19 and I hope that you don't feel like I am picking on you, 33:20 but I feel like I can speak with at least a little bit of 33:22 authority on this, because I was raised in the 33:24 Episcopalian Church. 33:25 My father was a Catholic who in his own way, wanted to be 33:32 a religious person, he wanted to be a spiritual person, 33:33 and he was married, and he went all the way through 33:36 Catholic schools, and all the way through into Catholicism 33:40 into the church, he was married in the church, but then he 33:41 got divorced, and the church would not recognize his divorce, 33:44 and so when he re-married my mother, 33:47 when he was re-married, he married my mother, 33:49 my mother was kind of a Baptist, 33:51 sort of a Protestant or something. 33:52 The problem was that the church would not recognize 33:55 his divorce, they said we don't recognize your divorce, 33:57 as far as we're concerned, you are still married to your first 33:58 wife, my Dad's like, listen, you got another thing coming, 34:02 I'm not only not married to her, she's re-married, and 34:04 I'm getting ready to get re-married, the church says 34:06 we don't recognize it. 34:07 So what happened is my father was no longer a Catholic 34:10 because he couldn't be, ok. 34:12 So he re-marries, he marries my mother, and my mother was 34:16 kind of a nominal Protestant and they said well what are we 34:18 going to do, I mean we can't be Catholics, 34:19 because they kicked you out the door, 34:20 we can't really be Protestants because you don't know anything 34:22 about Protestantism, so they became Episcopalians, 34:26 and I don't know if you know anything about Episcopalians 34:28 but Episcopalians are as close as you can get to Rome 34:31 without the Pope. 34:32 That's basically what an Episcopalian is, 34:36 it's Catholicism without the Pope, now if you go to an 34:39 Episcopalian church and you go to a Catholic church 34:41 the similarities are phenomenal, I mean just absolutely totally 34:45 phenomenal, why, because what happened is, is that 34:48 the Episcopalian Church, basically a man by the name of 34:50 King Henry, Henry the eighth wanted to have another wife 34:53 and the Bishop of Rome said no, and he said well I'll 34:54 start my own church, and he started the Anglican Church, 34:56 that's the short version, right. 34:58 So basically what happened was he came a little bit out of Rome 35:01 but not very far out of Rome. 35:03 Does that make sense, and so he's pretty close 35:06 and then another denomination came out a little further, 35:08 and then a little further, and a little further, 35:10 and all of these various denominations that we have 35:12 today are just in different degrees of coming out of Rome. 35:16 Does that make sense everyone? 35:18 And so the question is whether or not you are in Babylon, 35:20 it's actually very, very simple. 35:21 If you have any residual paganism, or papalism, 35:24 or Babylonianism that is part or partial teaching of your 35:28 church, as opposed to the teaching of God's word, 35:32 then God would say come out of Babylon and let Babylon 35:35 come out of you, can you say Amen? 35:38 Now that can be a little hard for us to hear, 35:39 but beloved that's what God says, that's not what 35:41 Pastor Asscherick says, that's what God says. 35:43 So let's continue on here in our study guide. 35:46 Babylon is not to be converted but destroyed, 35:49 it is not difficult to discern whether one is in Babylon 35:51 one need only ask and answer the simple question 35:54 does my church, my community of faith contain any residual 35:57 papal, pagan, or Babylonian elements and teachings. 36:01 Out of Babylon into what, let's go back to the screen here: 36:16 That's exactly what Jamieson Fausset and Brown said 36:18 again, that's well know, a very, very, very well know, 36:22 Protestant Commentary. 36:23 Now this raises the important question, is it clear to you 36:26 that God is calling His people out of Babylon, yes or no? 36:29 By the way don't even think of being offended, 36:33 don't even try to be offended, because God is the one that says 36:37 come out of her my people. 36:39 You do not have to be offended if you want to have God's 36:42 true people who in ignorance has been in a system 36:45 of Babylonianism, because now you've learned it, 36:48 Now you've what everyone? 36:49 You've learned it, and God calls you His people 36:52 no shame in that Amen. 36:54 I mean beloved when I decided that I was going to follow the 36:58 Word, when I decided that the Lord Jesus Christ 37:00 was going to be my Savior, and I was going to stand on 37:01 the Bible and the Bible only, I had to take a step out of my 37:05 parents church, because I saw that it wasn't Biblical. 37:07 Now again, that's not to make fun of anybody today who happens 37:10 to be and Episcopalian or ect., ect., you want to be an 37:12 Episcopalian that's your business, but what I am saying 37:14 is this, if you want to stand on the Bible, 37:16 you are going to have to take a step out of any church 37:19 that doesn't stand on the Bible, does that make sense yes or no? 37:22 I mean how could you sit in church and listen to people 37:24 preaching things that you know are not Biblical, 37:25 how can you give your money and your offering and 37:27 your influence and your energies to a church that is 37:30 teaching things that you know is not Biblical, 37:32 and so it was not like, oh I'm going to leave the church 37:34 because I'm mad at the church, I don't like the Episcopalians 37:36 anymore, they were dear people, 37:38 I love those people, no question, 37:40 but when I saw the church come into conflict with God's law 37:43 I decided to stand on the Bible instead of the church's 37:47 canon's and traditions, does that make sense everyone? 37:50 So don't get offended, and think Oh, I can't believe those things 37:53 he said about Episcopalians, or about Methodist or about 37:55 whatever, beloved, it's not about being offended 37:58 it's about being faithful to God. 38:00 Does that make sense everyone? 38:02 Ok, great, Praise the Lord we're making some great headway 38:05 so God says come out of Babylon and so we all step out 38:09 in faith, but the question is, we step out of Babylon 38:12 in to what? 38:14 See, God not only calls people out, He calls people in, 38:19 does that make sense? 38:21 He calls us out of something, into what? 38:23 Into obscurity, into chaos, into nothingness, 38:27 no!, no!, no!, He calls us out of Babylon in to His 38:30 remnant church, in fact look there in Revelation 12, 38:34 Revelation 12, and notice with me verse 17, Revelation 12:17, 38:40 It says speaking of the remnant church Revelation 12:17, 38:47 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make 38:51 war with war with the what, your Bible says remnant, 38:54 mine says the rest of her offspring, 38:55 who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony 38:58 of Jesus Christ. 39:00 So God here has a remnant, a what everyone? 39:04 A remnant, now this is straight out of Old Testament. 39:07 This is classic Old Testament theology, that you would find 39:10 text like this, all of Israel would go into captivity 39:13 but a remnant would be preserved. 39:15 All of Israel would go into Apostasy, but a remnant 39:18 would be preserved, so this idea of remnant theology 39:20 is not just something that was invented by John and the 39:22 Apocalypse, it is something that is all the way through. 39:25 Noah was a remnant, think of it that way, 39:28 the whole earth had gone into absolute Apostasy 39:30 and violence against God, but God saved a remnant 39:33 you find that again and again. 39:35 Daniel had gone into Babylonian captivity for seven years, 39:38 but God called a remnant out of that, 39:40 God is in the habit of calling remnants of people 39:44 because unfortunately Satan the arch enemy, 39:48 he deceives people into going the wrong way 39:50 and then God is able to get his hands wrapped around a few 39:53 and He calls them out, He calls them what? 39:55 Out! Now some people are going to say well listen I'm not 39:59 getting called out of anything, I am going to stay with 40:01 my church, and I'm going to do my own thing. 40:03 Beloved, beloved, you do whatever you want, 40:05 but the point is this, don't think that when it comes to 40:08 salvation, there is safety in numbers. 40:12 Amen, don't even think that for a moment, 40:15 don't think will listen I'm going to a church and there's 40:17 ten thousand members in my church, and there's good people 40:19 in my church and so surely because there are other 40:21 people in this church that are going to be saved, 40:23 that I can stay here and be safe, listen, 40:25 God didn't bring all those other people to this series 40:27 of meetings, God brought you to this series of meetings, 40:29 does that make sense? 40:31 So God reveals at certain times truth to certain people 40:35 because He can trust you with it. 40:37 Fortunately you don't have to answer for anybody else 40:39 in your church, can you say Amen? 40:41 You only got to answer for one, and that's you, 40:44 and the fact that other people may have gotten invitations 40:47 or the spirit of God might be working on other peoples 40:49 hearts, and they may be responding at different times 40:51 or some of them obstinately might not responding 40:53 that has nothing to do with you. 40:55 Don't think for a moment, well there's all kinds of 40:57 faithful people in my church and surely some of them are 41:00 going to be saved, and so I'll stay here and I'll be just fine. 41:02 God is saving people individually, 41:05 does that make sense everyone? 41:07 And God wants to save you individually, 41:09 there's no question, and so God reveals things to you 41:11 at a time when He thinks you can handle it. 41:14 God wants to trust you with His truth. 41:17 Can you say Amen? 41:18 Amen! Absolutely, very simple here, 41:19 and so what we see here is that God does have a true church 41:23 called the remnant, now notice in Revelation 12:17 41:26 it says the remnant have at least two characteristics: 41:28 They have the testimony of Jesus, and they keep 41:31 the commandments of God. 41:32 Now I told you several, I suppose it's been half way back 41:36 through the seminar, that my grandmother used to take 41:38 me to the most boring place on earth, who remembers 41:41 where that was, fabric store, that's exactly right, 41:43 and not only would she buy those absolutely boring 41:47 innocuous little white envelopes, 41:49 sometimes she would go to 41:50 the remnant box, she'd go to the what? 41:53 Remnant box, where there would be remnants of cloth 41:57 is that right, let's say for example she wanted to match 42:01 this suit here, if she was going to find a remnant to match 42:04 this suit here, she would go to the various bolts of cloth 42:06 and they would say, you know we don't have that, 42:07 but you can check the remnant pile. 42:08 So she would go through and start looking through 42:10 the remnants, and if she found one that truly matched this, 42:13 it would have to be the same texture, it would have to be 42:16 the same color, it would have to be the same pattern, 42:18 it would have to be the same weight, in order to 42:20 truly be the remnant of this fabric, 42:22 does that make sense everyone, yes or no? 42:23 So the remnant, God's last day church, has to look 42:26 like God's first day church. 42:28 Does that make sense, it can't look radically different, 42:31 it has to match, if it's the remnant it has to match, 42:33 so we can't look for something new, we can't look for something 42:36 totally radical and different, we have to look for something 42:38 that's basically the same as the Apostolic church. 42:41 Amen! God is going to bring His people back to 42:44 Apostolic Christianity, it reminds of a marvelous 42:46 state when I heard Billy Graham say one time, 42:48 and I tell you, my heart really goes out to Billy Graham 42:50 because I think in some ways he's abandoning the faith. 42:53 I don't know if you saw this most recent..., 42:54 and I'm not judging the man at all, but if you have seen 42:57 this Newsweek that he was on the cover of 43:00 a little while back, you know they interview him and 43:02 he's like well, I'm not so sure everything in the Bible is true 43:04 and I was just reading, and I am thinking who am I reading? 43:07 Who could I possibly be reading, but let the Lord Jesus 43:10 sort that out, I'll tell you this, there's no question 43:14 that God did use that man to reach many people, 43:16 thousands of people, millions of people, for the Lord. 43:19 Can you say Amen! 43:20 On one occasion he was preaching a marvelous revival in 43:22 New York City, and he preached his guts out, 43:25 and just threw down, he could be a wild preacher 43:28 in his earlier years, and he just preached, and preached, 43:30 and preached, and he made an alter call, 43:31 and people came forward, and they were repenting, 43:33 and weeping at the alter, and it was absolutely powerful. 43:36 Afterwards several of the organizers of the event 43:38 went up to Mr. Graham, they said Mr. Graham we're very 43:39 concerned about tonight's presentation, 43:41 oh, you didn't think it was a good presentation, 43:43 well, we're concerned, we feel like you've set the church back 43:46 two hundred years today, you're going back to the dark ages, 43:49 you're going back to the way things used to be done. 43:50 We want to be a part of the new church, 43:52 part of the emerging church, part of this new exciting 43:55 movement that God is doing in Christianity, 43:56 we feel like you set the church back two hundred years. 43:59 Pastor Graham kind of hung his head, he said I'm real sorry 44:02 about that I guess I really did fail, and they were kind of 44:05 triumphing over it a little bit, we really feel like you 44:07 let us down, and he said gentlemen I apologize. 44:09 Tonight if you feel like I set the church back 44:12 two hundred years, I did fail, I absolutely failed, 44:14 because I was trying to set the church back two thousand years. 44:18 Are you with me everyone? 44:24 Do you follow where we are going with that? 44:25 Beloved the remnant is going to look like 44:29 Apostolic Christianity 44:31 it's got to match, does that make sense everyone? 44:32 So let's go to our board here, it's actually pretty simple 44:40 I Timothy 3:15, The apostle Paul 44:42 writing to young Timothy, he says: 44:54 Beloved the church is to be built on truth, and Jesus Christ 44:58 is the truth, can you say Amen! 44:59 Think about that for just a moment, Jesus Christ 45:02 is the truth, He Himself said in John 14:6, 45:05 I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 17:17, 45:10 Jesus said, Sanctify them through thy word, 45:12 thy word is truth. Psalm 119 says, 45:17 Thy law is truth, so you have this three fold definition of 45:20 truth, Jesus Christ is truth, His word is truth, 45:24 His law is truth, and the church is the pillar 45:27 and ground of truth. 45:29 That's why I've said many times in the seminar 45:30 and I'll stand by it until the day that I die 45:32 we don't find a church that suits us and then hope, 45:35 cross our fingers and pray that they preach the truth. 45:38 What we do is we find the truth, then we go find a church 45:41 that's preaches what's truth, can you say Amen! 45:43 So too with your pastor's, and I know many of you have 45:45 spiritual leaders that you respect, ect., ect., 45:47 but beloved, beloved, beloved, don't check the truth out with 45:50 your pastor, check your pastor out with Bible truth. 45:53 Can you say Amen! 45:54 Because listen I want to tell you something, 45:56 if I were to take my shirt off which I won't do, 45:58 because I don't want to be indelicate, 45:59 but if I were to take my shirt off right now, 46:01 there is no Superman tattoo on my chest, there's no 46:04 Super pastor, Super saint outfit under here, 46:06 I'm a sinner just like you, can you say Amen! 46:09 And I can be wrong, just like you can be wrong, 46:11 can you say Amen! 46:12 But the word of God can not be wrong, so don't think for 46:15 a moment that your pastor can't be wrong, 46:17 I'm telling you can be wrong and if you don't believe me, 46:19 you can talk to my wife, and she will tell you, 46:21 he can be wrong, but the word can't be wrong. 46:26 Can you say Amen! And the concern that I have 46:29 here, is that we're saying oh, I just like this church, 46:31 and I love the stained glass, and I love being a part of the 46:33 choir, and they have such a nice social hour, 46:36 and I love the program for the kids, and we have a 46:38 wonderful Woman's Book Club, and on, and on, and on, 46:41 but at the end of the day, if that church is not the pillar 46:44 and ground of truth, you are in the wrong church. 46:46 Does that make sense? 46:49 Even if you are happy as a Leprechaun, 46:51 if you are in a church that is not preaching the truth 46:55 you are in the wrong church. 46:56 Does that make sense everyone? 46:58 I mean is that radical, is that to radical yes or no? 47:02 I hope, it doesn't sound to radical to me. 47:05 Let's continue on here, we have this woman that we 47:09 are being called out of: 47:11 and it is a: 47:20 If you have any of those residual elements, 47:22 in addition to many other residual elements 47:25 that could be sided, you should seriously consider 47:27 evaluating your commitment to a church that's not standing 47:31 on truth, does that make sense everyone? 47:34 Yes or no, absolutely, by the way don't be afraid of that 47:37 Jesus Himself changed churches 47:39 if you want to use that language. 47:40 Because when Jesus began His public ministry, 47:44 He went in and He said to those people who were 47:46 selling things in the temple, He said take these things 47:48 out of here, you've made my Father's house a den of thieves, 47:52 but at the end of His public ministry, three and a half years 47:54 later after they had consistently rejected the 47:56 evidences of His Messiah ship, and His divinity, 47:58 He said your house has left to you what? 48:01 Desolate, so was Jesus a Jew? 48:04 Sure not only was Jesus a Jew, Jesus was the one who had 48:08 Himself called Abraham the first Jew. 48:10 Jesus' great, great, grandfather built that temple 48:14 Solomon and David, and of course the Solomonic temple had been 48:18 destroyed, but the point here is, if anybody had their roots 48:21 in a religious system, it was Jesus. 48:23 But when Jesus saw that religious system refused 48:26 to follow truth, He left the system, and followed truth. 48:31 And He established something called the church, 48:35 we're going to talk about that tomorrow morning, Who Is Real 48:38 Israel, beloved I have said it before and I will say it again 48:42 I would rather worship with twelve people under an Oak tree 48:45 on truth and in spirit, than with five thousand people 48:49 in the most glorious cathedral with the most 48:51 Charismatic pastor. 48:52 Can you say Amen! 48:54 I hope you feel the same way, I really, really, hope you do, 48:57 and so Babylon the Great: 49:03 And we have already said that, and as we've discussed 49:05 yesterday, many of these churches are rushing back 49:09 to get back into bed with the great mother church Rome. 49:13 In fact they are wanting to distance themselves 49:14 from anything that separate themselves from Rome, 49:17 and as we discussed yesterday, 49:18 who's making all of the concessions, 49:20 the Protestants or the Catholics? 49:21 The Protestants are the ones making the concessions: 49:27 Let's go to Revelation 12, during the time of Constantine, 49:34 and just after the time of Constantine, 49:35 basically if you didn't get on with the program, 49:37 you could be persecuted, and if you wouldn't bow to the pope 49:40 and the prelates and all of the various dogmas and decrees 49:43 of papalism, you were persecuted and so God's true 49:45 church, God's true people fled into the what everyone? 49:49 Into the wilderness, I am in Revelation 12 and I will pick 49:52 it up in verse 6, Then the woman fled into the wilderness, 49:58 where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed 50:01 her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 50:03 We've already seen that that's the one thousand 50:05 two hundred sixty years of papal oppression, 50:07 and the woman fled into the wilderness, because basically 50:11 there was only one show in town, 50:13 and that show was the Roman Church. 50:14 She had to leave because of persecution, 50:17 because of what everyone? 50:18 It's not like our day and age when we pull out this 50:21 monolithically large phone book and we say what church 50:23 should we go to, and there's page, after page, after page, 50:27 of any kind of church to fit any kind of lifestyle, 50:31 whatever you want, in those days, there was one gig in town. 50:34 There was THEE church, not the churches, THEE church, 50:39 and when THEE church basically said it's our way or the highway 50:43 it's our way or the stake, it's our way or it's the 50:45 Coliseum, many people say hey listen we're out of here! 50:48 We want to worship God according to the dictates of our own 50:51 conscience, and they fled into the wilderness where they could 50:53 worship God in spirit and in truth, 50:54 even at significant inconvenience to themselves. 50:58 So the church fled into the wilderness, and you have there 51:01 marvelous, marvelous, in the valleys of Northern Italy 51:04 and other places, the great Piedmont Valleys, 51:06 you have people like the Waldensian's and the Hugenot's, 51:09 and the Albigense's, and others who fled 51:11 papal persecution, so that they could worship God 51:14 in spirit and truth in the wilderness rather than 51:16 capitulate to the papal dogmas, decrees, and doctrines, 51:19 is everybody with me yes or no? 51:21 So that is exactly what Bible prophecy said that they would 51:23 flee into the wilderness. 51:24 Now it's amazing to see here that Revelation 12, 51:27 it says that the serpent cast out of his mouth water 51:30 like a flood, that he might cause the woman to be carried 51:32 away by the flood, very interesting it says..., 51:35 look at verse 15, Revelation 12:15. 51:37 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood 51:40 after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away 51:41 by the flood. But the earth helped the woman, 51:45 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood 51:47 which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 51:49 Now we have already been over this in Revelation 13, 51:51 God opened up a whole new continent, God opened up 51:54 a whole new hemisphere, and people fleeing 51:56 civil persecution and religious persecution landed on these 52:00 glorious shores, got off kissed the ground, 52:03 and said here we will establish a new kind of government. 52:05 Not with subjects, but with citizens, 52:07 a government of the people, for the people, 52:10 and by the people. 52:11 God basically opened up a whole new land, where His church 52:14 could flee from papal persecution, and flee from 52:17 monarchal persecution, and establish a true government 52:21 that would keep the church and the state as separate, 52:24 rather than bed partners and thus ensure that 52:26 religious persecution could not transpire, 52:28 if this makes sense say Amen! 52:29 I believe that with every bit of my being, 52:32 and I would challenge you to go look at some of American 52:35 History, and the providences of God, I mean providence 52:38 after providence, after providence, after providence, 52:40 they don't teach it in school's any more, because you can't 52:42 mention the name of God, the point is this. 52:44 It would have been impossible for this nation to come about 52:48 the way that it did, in the manner that it did, 52:50 as quickly as it did, without the special intervention 52:53 and providence of God. 52:55 Incredible what God has done for this nation, 52:58 that's why it says that He had two horns like a lamb. 53:01 Like a what? A lamb, and he espoused the great principles 53:04 of Republicanism, that is civil liberty, and Protestantism 53:08 that is religious liberty, but unfortunately it said that it 53:10 would eventually speak like a dragon, we know that, 53:13 that's where it's going. 53:14 Beloved in the post 9/11 world with the passage of 53:17 The Patriot Act, and a hundred other things, 53:19 I don't know if you are feeling it, but your civil liberty's 53:21 are just getting like this, and like this. 53:23 And what's happening is that personal liberty's 53:28 are being sacrificed increasingly on the altar 53:30 of National Security. 53:32 That's the direction you are headed beloved, 53:34 and if I read my Bible right, and I think I do, 53:37 it's only going to get tighter and tighter, and uglier, 53:39 and uglier, until eventually it climaxes with the 53:42 mark of the beast crisis. 53:44 That's the direction that we're headed, 53:46 absolutely incredible, you are getting the big picture here. 53:48 Now I want to fast forward here through two slides, 53:50 because I want you to see something that is absolutely 53:51 critical, there it is. 53:52 Now this is a simplified slide but it will help you to 53:56 sort of see what happened from the 1400's to the 1800's. 53:59 God started calling faithful men and so you basically had the 54:02 period of the Dark Ages, and then these people that 54:04 I have just described, in the valley's of Northern Italy. 54:06 They said no, we will not stand for the papal dogmas, 54:09 the papal decrees, and the papal teachings, 54:11 we will stand on the Bible, and they went away to these 54:13 incredible..., you can go take tours even now 54:16 Reformation tours up on the valley's of Northern Italy 54:18 and go to the very museums, the very places where these 54:21 people, sometimes they would be caught 54:22 and slaughtered, just terrible, but in the quietness of their 54:26 homes up in the high mountain valleys, they would start 54:28 transcribing the Bible, people like the Waldensian's and they 54:31 said it's the Bible, it's the Bible, and then after that 54:34 a man by the name of John Husk came on the scene, 54:36 one of the great reformers, and he said no it's obedience 54:39 not obedience to man, but obedience to God. 54:42 And then a man by the name Martin Luther, 54:44 Martin what everyone? 54:45 Luther was reading through his Bible one day, 54:47 and he came across the four words that rocked the world, 54:49 The Just Shall Live By Faith, just live by faith. 54:55 He found those words and he saw that was radically 54:58 incompatible with the Roman system, and so he nailed those 55:00 ninety five pieces to the door, there at Wittenberg 55:02 and so he came out a little bit further, but he didn't come 55:05 all the way out. 55:06 A man named John Calvin came out a little further 55:08 and he emphasized Christian growth and God's sovereignty 55:10 and then the Anabaptists came out and said 55:12 baptism by emersion, not this sprinkling stuff, 55:14 and then John Wesley said emphasis on holiness, 55:17 they were called Methodists, that's actually a derogatory 55:19 term, but they took that term and incorporated that term, 55:21 and they embraced that term, then a man by the name of 55:23 William Miller began a radical, radical movement here 55:26 in the United States of America called Millerism where you 55:28 said Jesus is coming, Jesus is coming, 55:30 and many people believe that. 55:31 Some estimate that he had as many as one to two hundred 55:33 thousand followers, and there was this sudden Apocalyptic 55:36 sense that Jesus was coming soon, and then this thing called 55:39 the advent movement, I'm going to talk to you about that 55:41 tomorrow, putting the emphasis back on the Sabbath 55:44 the truth about death, and the importance of 55:46 Christian lifestyle, and living for the glory of God. 55:48 So basically what you see is, people were coming out of Rome 55:52 but instead of continuing to walk out of Rome, 55:54 they would plant their banner, and they would say we are 55:57 Lutherans, even though Martin Luther said don't call 55:59 yourselves Lutherans, they set up their banner. 56:01 We're Lutherans, somebody came out a little further, 56:03 planted their banner, we're Calvinists, 56:04 but truth was marching on. 56:06 Truth was what? Marching on but everybody just sort of 56:09 [eeert] and they stopped and they felt safe there 56:12 and they started writing their decree's, 56:13 and they started writing their creeds, 56:15 and they started writing their codes, and truth was 56:17 marching on, and so somebody came out a little further, 56:19 but instead of keep going, they plant their banner 56:21 they say we are Calvinists, then somebody comes out 56:23 a little further, plants their banner we are Baptists, 56:25 somebody comes out a little further, plants their banner, 56:27 we are Methodists, somebody comes out a little further, 56:29 we are this, a little further, we are this, a little further, 56:32 we are this, that's why there are so many different 56:34 denominations. 56:35 The reason there are so many different denominations 56:38 is that every denomination is at various stages 56:41 of coming out of Apostate Rome. 56:45 Unfortunately people have set up their banners, 56:47 they have set up their camps, at different areas along that 56:50 continuum, but at the end of time, God is going to have a 56:54 remnant that will abandon all paganism, will abandon all 56:57 papalism, and will stand for the Bible and the Bible only. 57:02 So God not only calls us out of Babylon, God calls us in 57:07 to this remnant movement that's bigger than a church. 57:11 It's a movement, it's a what? 57:15 It's a movement, and this chart sort of depicts that 57:18 powerfully and compellingly and we'll talk more about that 57:21 tomorrow night. |
Revised 2014-12-17