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You know, Jesus in His love, warns us not to warn off the path to stray off the path, right? And there are times where he has to point out the thorns. And so he’s blessed us with prophecy. And prophecy helps us to stay on the path, right? And at times, prophecy even has to point out the thorns. And Revelation 17 points out some thorns. So before we begin, let us kneel in prayer where possible,
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Heavenly Father, we come before you, before your throne of grace, boldly, petitioning for your spirit to be here with us. Father, we pray that as we go through your word that we will have an understanding of your word and, and that what you are pointing out the way of righteousness, and that we will see also the thorns. Not that we may focus on the thorns, but we that we may focus on the way of righteousness. Father, I pray that you will touch my lips with a call from off your altar, that I may present your words, your tone of voice, your body language, that your thoughts may come across clearly and strongly. And in love this I ask in Jesus name, amen.
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Want to start with a basic question? How many here can comfortably identify the woman of Revelation 17. That is the harlot there? How many? Show of hands? How many can comfortably identify, at least in your own minds? I’m not talking about giving a Bible study. Okay. And that’s kind of what I figured that actually, I asked that question more to see if people were awake than anything. So I’ve got an hour or less, I could, in that time, when I go through Revelation 17, if I go through the whole thing, I’m gonna have to kind of skim on things. And the basics of that would mean, another Revelation seminar, and I think most of us have probably sat through at least half a dozen. So probably within about 10 minutes, most people would be asleep. So what I want to do is I want to zero in as I was looking at this, and I was studying this, there were two points that really popped out to me, that you don’t hear in Revelation seminars, you don’t hear being preached or focused in on. But as I’m looking at these things, and as I’m searching them out to the Word of God, to find out what God has to say about these things, they really start jumping at me. And they really, for me, personally, began to clearly define and nail down the woman of Revelation 17, in a way that I have not seen ever preached before. And so that’s what I want to do, I want to look at these two identifying marks. And so I’m not going to go through the whole chapter of Revelation 17. But if you want to open up your Bibles with me, we’ll go to Revelation chapter 17. And I’ll read probably about the first four verses. And I’ll kind of give some commentary as I’m going along here.
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But then I’m going to start to zero in on two things that really seem to jump out at me. Revelation chapter 17, in verse one, and there came one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials and talked with me, I want to stop there for just a moment. One of the seven angels which had the seven vials, this is referencing back or thought process back to chapter 16. If you see in verse, chapter 16, verse 19, it says, and the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. So God makes mention of this. And now in chapter 17, he’s coming back to focus on this. And as he begins to focus on this, he’s kind of laying out some, some waymark some identifying points before he tells us what the judgments are. So we continue reading and talk with me saying to me, come, hither, I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.
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Now judgment, I just want to touch on this for just a moment. When we look at judgment in the Bible. Sometimes it can be confusing if we don’t understand that judgment has three aspects. It can be the verdict that’s handed down. And it can also be the execution of that verdict. So when we see the word judgment, you’ve kind of got to ask yourself, which judgment is being spoken of. That makes sense? Now, I’m not a Greek scholar but looking at logos, it tells me that judgment here is the sentence. So God is telling us what the sentence is going to be for the female prostitute. And the female prostitute is someone who prostitutes themselves out for financial gain or for another gain. That makes sense? And so I think we all understand that a woman in Bible prophecy represents what? A church. So here’s a church, that is prostituting herself out for gain of some sorts. And God is going to give a sentence or pass judgment upon her. And she sits upon many waters.
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Now verse two: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Now I want to stop there, again, for just a moment. The angel reveals that this, this is an immoral action. There’s fornication. There’s an immoral action, interaction that is going on between church and state. So that makes sense?
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There needs to be and there is to some degree interaction between church and state. There is state here in this realm that we live in right on earth. And there’s also church here, right? So there is to some degree, some interaction, but it should not be immoral interaction. And we need to be sure that it’s not an immoral interaction. And what’s going on here is not a moral interaction. And the result is this from this immoral action, it has made people inebriated and drunk to be made drunk. It is inebriated. Anybody ever given Bible studies to a drunk before? It’s rather interesting. usually get one of two things. You either get the individual who just wants to argue with everything when they’re drunk. Or you can tell them the grass is purple, and they’re going to Uh huh. And I’ve, I’ve had both and it’s always interesting when when you walk into a house, and you’ve got a Bible study set up, and and here they are drunk all which way is this gonna go. But what’s going on here is when you’re inebriated, you have a hard time discerning between what is moral and what is immoral. And you tend to, in this case, take for gospel, that which is not true. You just kind of go along and, and when the Church says the grass is purple, okay, it’s purple. And so there’s a lot of Revelation that is going on here, just in these first two verses. And I think these are pretty powerful identifying points even of themselves. verse three says, and he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns.
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Now I’m gonna come back to blasphemy, I think that is one of very one of the two powerful identifying points that I want to delve into greater. So I’m gonna come back to that one in a few minutes. Verse four, and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and deck with gold and precious stones and pearls. Now that word deck there is to be golden. So she’s golden with gold. The visual that pops to mind is, you know, I’ve in my past, I’ve seen pictures of rappers. And they’re golden with gold, right? They’ve got Golden Chain upon Golden Chain upon golden chain. There’s gold in their ears, there’s gold in their nose, and when they smile, there’s gold in their teeth. There’s gold everywhere, right? golden with golden. So this woman is she’s golden with gold and precious stones and pearls. In other words, she’s decked out with all of these things. And having a cup in her hand, full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication. Here is I think, another powerful identifying mark of Babylon, full of abominations. Now, as I’m looking at this, I’m thinking, you know, what is an abomination? I’ve read so many places, this is an abomination. That’s an abomination. But I’ve never stopped to actually put it all together and to view what an abomination is from God’s eyes. I could tell you what abomination is, but you don’t want to hear my opinion, right? I hope not. I don’t want to hear my opinion. I want to hear God’s opinion, right? I want to know what he tells me is an abomination. And so, abomination. Let’s look kind of at a broad context, to get a grasp of the word. We’ll go through this fairly quickly. In Leviticus 18:22 and also in chapter 20, verse 13, we find that homosexuality is an abomination to God. Abomination is basically means something that is detestable. And so this is detestable in the eyes of God. We find also in Deuteronomy 22:5, we find these are my own words. These aren’t the words that are found specifically in the Bible. I’m summing them up and putting them into my own words.
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But cross dressing is an abomination to God, a man wanting to look like a woman or a woman wanting to look like a man, this is detestable in God’s eyes. And how much of these things do we see today? This is why I don’t want to just say, and start talking about abomination because abomination is different, defined differently by the world than it is by God. And so this is why I want to go through some of these things to help us get a bigger grasp of what this word means and what it is to God. In Deuteronomy 24:4, we find that marrying a defiled woman is an abomination to God. And Deuteronomy 24:4 what we find is, is a man who writes a bill of divorcement, to his wife, for whatever reason, she goes and marries another man, and then that man either dies or writes her bill of divorcement. And then the first husband saying, I want to take her back to wife, God says this is an abomination is detestable in his eyes.
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Here’s another one. And again, these are my words. playing favorites, when delivering the justice, God said should be delivered. This is an abomination. We find this in Deuteronomy 25:13-16. And also Proverbs 11:1, and I’ll let you read Deuteronomy 25 on your own, but it’s talking about when two men strive together, and the wife of one of the men comes and puts, stops the fight. We’ll leave it at that. Here it says that her hand has to be cut off. And when the husband does not do this, God says that’s an abomination. You know, how many times have we seen in churches where God says that justice has to be dealt out to someone who’s done something wrong in the church. And people will say, Well, I don’t really want to do that, because they pay so much money into the church. And if I do that, they might leave and that money will leave with them. Or, and I want to make this clear, it’s not necessarily the pastor’s job to do the discipline. That’s the church’s job, not the pastor’s job. It’s the elders job to lead that not the pastor’s job. But oftentimes, it ends up as the pastor, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But a lot of times, what we see is the pastor, somebody over here that’s not well to do or doesn’t have a lot of influence will do something and discipline is quickly handed out. But someone who’s influential discipline is not handed out because it maybe they’re afraid of losing their job. And so there’s a lot of these things going on. You know what? God says that’s an abomination. That’s detestable in his sights. doing these things is not fun. And if you think it’s fun, there’s a problem. It shouldn’t be fun. But this is an abomination.
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In Proverbs 3:32, and also in chapter 11, verse 20, God tells us that to be devious is an abomination. Do you Are you beginning to see the broad context of this word? abomination is not something that is very narrow that we have focused in on Oh, yeah, these abomination is bottom line. Sin is an abomination to God it is sin is detestable in his eyes. That is really the bottom line of this. Of course, we can’t skip over Proverbs 6:16-19 when talking about abominations. Here God lists 7 abominations. These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he, last but not least, he that soweth discord among the brethren. So we’ve seen kind of a broad overview of abominations, does that help to kind of set a foundation is what I’m aiming for, help to kind of set a foundation so that we’re not looking quite so narrow. We need to broaden our view of what God says are abominations in his eyes or detestable in his eyes.
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You know, offering a blemish sacrifice, according to Deuteronomy 17:1 that’s a an abomination to God. You know, when we come to God, and even Paul says that we should offer ourselves a living sacrifice. What if we’re offering ourselves with all this known sin that we’re clinging on to? Is not that an abomination to God? That’s an abomination to God. He wants us to let go of these things. I had more than I was going to talk about on that, but I’m going to keep going.
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And I want to touch on this one. The practices of other nations like diviners and charmers, God says is an abomination. Let’s turn there. Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Deuteronomy chapter 18. And when thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God, give it thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. How do I apply that to today? I always ask myself, how does this What does this mean to me? And what does this mean for today? As a religious body, we are not to learn from apostate Protestantism, right? Or Catholicism or any other religion or denomination, we’re not to take those practices and use them ourselves. We’re not to take them for ourselves, are we? Verse 10, there shall not be found among you, anyone that make up his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or the use of divination or an observer of times or an enchanter or a witch, or a charmer, or accounts consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord. And because of these abominations, the Lord that God does drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God, for these nations, which thou shalt possess hearkened, unto observers of times and unto diviners, but as for the, the Lord, that God had not suffered the so to do.
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Now, as I was looking some of these things up, but I see that these things, a lot of these things are overlapping, in many regards. they overlap with each other. And so what I see is God is being, he’s covering all his bases, because someone could say, well, that’s not quite what I do this is, this is really what I do. So it’s really not an abomination. God is being clear, and he’s nailing everything down. So that there’s no room for doubt. But as I looked this word up, and in Lagos, it it says divining, speaking of divining the pagan state or process of stating or determining the future, through signs, omens and supernatural powers. And then it says there’s four broad classes of divination. One is using the position of the stars. I’m going to skip over to and come back to it. Three, examining animal parts, or pot shards, and forecasting lots for a yes or no answer. Now, I’ve seen people today that caught that have that profess to be adventurous, do something similar to this? You ever heard of hanging a pendulum? The hang a pendulum reel, reel, reel, still? And they’ll ask questions and if it swings one way, it’s a yes, if it swings, another way to know and I’ve heard of Adventists that do that.
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But what I want to get back to is point number two, speaking with dead spirits. This is an identifying mark of Babylon. Speaking with dead spirits, I can remember when I was when I was a boy, I grew up just outside of Atlanta, little ways south east of Atlanta. And there was a place not too far from our home that had a big field. And once a year, people would gather from all over the United States. Even from the world, and they would all come into this field and they would sit down and they would stare at the sky all day long. You know what they were looking for? Mary, she would regularly appear at that appointed time and that appointed place in their minds. This is her appearing, but in reality, who is it that’s appearing? It’s the devil, right? Or the spirit of somebody that’s dead? is Mary in heaven? No, Mary is not in heaven, Mary cannot reveal herself.
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And I remember one time we drove by, my parents rolled down the window. And as people were filing out and ask them, did you see anything? And someone said, Oh, yes, very clearly she was right there. And I remember chills going up my spine. This was just down from our road, or from our house. But speaking with dead spirits, and in this system of worship, spirits appear on a regular basis. And they tell people this and they tell people that sometimes they tell them the future. This is in a sense, divining. The other one consulted with familiar spirits, someone who conjures and communicates with ghosts. We oftentimes think of a an occult or or a seance going on. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be what happens. So, you know, for me, I think this is this is pretty powerful identifying mark of Babylon, and her doctrines, speaking of spirits that have dead people, which we know are really demons.
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Another point in Deuteronomy 27:15. If you want, we can turn there, it’s pretty close. Deuteronomy 27 in verse 15, cursed is the man that make it any any graven or molten image, and abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands or the craftsmen, and put it in a secret place, and all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Is not that what this power does? It has in graven images all over the place. In fact, it’s attempted to change the 10 commandments. And it believes that it has that authority to change those 10 commandments. But friends, this is an abomination. Under God is detestable in his eyes, that statue that they have that they call Peter, is it not Jupiter. The toe is almost gone. As I understand, I’ve never been there. But the toe I believe is almost gone from people kissing it. This is an in graven image. And it’s detestable in the eyes of God. I’ve put these two ideas together into one idea. So you’ll see them these ideas throughout, but I’ll list them off for you so that so that you can see them. But it’s the worship of false gods. And the other idea is attempting to worship the true God as the heathens do. Both of these ideas are an abomination to God. And you find it in Deuteronomy 7:25. For those of you that are taking notes, also in chapter 12, verses 29 to 32. All of chapter 13, which we’re going to go to and read parts of here in just a minute. Chapter 17, verses two to five, 1 Kings 11:5, 7, and also 2 Kings 20:13. And there are other locations. I just stopped at that point. I didn’t want to clutter the screen, but I see that’s too late.
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But what I want to do, I want to just take just a moment and make mention I don’t want to dwell on this point too long. Because I’m going to come back to the worship of false gods and Deuteronomy 13 here in just a moment, but to worship God as heathens do. I just want you to stop and think for just a moment. What is Easter have to do with the resurrection of Christ? This is the name the modern name, if you will, of the goddess Ishtar. It’s a heathen god or goddess. And you know how you paint the eggs. It’s it’s interesting to go back and look at a study on all of this. And I realize there’s always some debate on these details. But the painting of the eggs has to do with the eggs being dipped in The blood of child sacrifices. And so many Christians, we want to paint the eggs, but we don’t realize what we’re doing. A lot of times it’s worshipping God the way the heathens. Did you ever wonder why? What what? easter eggs I always used to refer to this as a child never made sense? What do easter eggs and bunny rabbits have to do with the resurrection of Christ? Absolutely nothing. It’s all about fertility, and Ishtar. And as I understand another name is Aphrodite in the New Testament, I just want people to think about that, you know, and then ponder that where where do you draw the line? Where is it, that you’ve crossed the line into worshiping God the way the heavens? Do? You ever noticed that, that Easter also floats around? The resurrection of Christ float around now. So just ponder those things.
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But let’s go to Deuteronomy 13. Deuteronomy chapter 13, God says something. And he tells us the same thing, from different perspectives or in different situations. And he tells it to us three times, not once, not twice, but three times. Deuteronomy 13, starting in verses one to four, if there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and give it the Assign or a wonder, and the sign of the Wonder come to pass where he spake unto thee, want to stop there for just a moment. God tells us that we should know the prophets by if they give a sign, and it happens. But here he’s telling us to be aware of something and he goes on. This spake unto me saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou has not known and let us serve them. What is he saying? He says, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that Prophet, or that dreamer of dreams for the Lord, your God proves with you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, you shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep His commandments, thou shalt have no other gods before me, keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and he shall serve Him and cleave unto him. So friends, even if a prophet comes and says, Let’s worship other gods, what should you say? Absolutely not. Let us worship a trinity. What should you say? Absolutely not. Absolutely not, in no way, shape or form. You know, it reminds me of Paul, when Paul says, that dough and Angel were to come to you and preach another gospel. Don’t accept it. So you know what that means. Even if a prophet of God comes and tells you something contrary to the Word of God, which one should you go with? The Word of God, there is nothing more important than this. Because the devil can perform miracles. So we cannot go by them. We have to go by the word of God, amen. verses six to nine. For if my brother, the son of thy mother, or the son of the daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or the friend, which is a nine on soul, entice the secretly saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou has not known now, nor thy father’s, the pioneers, maybe, namely, of the gods of the people, which are round about you, nigh on to the or far off from the, from the one end of the earth, even on to the other end of the earth.
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Now, how do I apply that to today? Whether it be the religions that are close to us that are still apostate Protestantism, or the religion that is far from us, Catholicism. It doesn’t matter. If they say to worship another God, God says, Don’t do it. Don’t do it at all. But verse eight, Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him, neither shall nine I pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. So what this individual says is to be revealed for a disciplinary action. Verse nine, now verse nine tells us how serious God is. But thou shalt surely kill him. thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. Now I don’t I’m not advocating murdering somebody today. So don’t misunderstand that. I’m not advocating executing somebody today. But there’s a spiritual battle that’s going on. And so we need to look at it in a spiritual sense.
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Verses 13 to 18. We’ll jump to this. This one, I think, I hope drives a little closer to home. Certain men, the children of Belial are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city saying, Let us go and serve other gods which you have not known. I’ll just stop there with that one. How would I apply that to today? Who is he speaking? To the remnant right? Who is the remnant of God? Those that keep the commandments of God, right? All 10 not just nine, not throwing away the first thou shalt have no other gods before me, but all 10. Here God is saying that there are some that have gone out from us that are worshipping false gods. And God is saying do not follow after them. Do not follow them. Don’t go that way. In fact, he says, to destroy the city to burn everything, put everything to the sword. And God here is emphasizing his absolute abhorrence for this abomination. But herein lies, I think, a very powerful identifying mark of Babylon. Worshipping false gods. This is a mark that is not delved into in Revelation seminars as a whole. Why? Because you don’t want to point that out. If you’re worshiping the same God, do you? You can’t point that out. You don’t want to try to make that connection. So that connection is left alone, but it’s something that we need to see we need to understand. And we need to see this as an identifying Mark full of abominations. We go back to Revelation 17. I want to sum this point up before we move on to point number two. Revelation 17 verse four, and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations, plural, not just one, but it’s plural abominations like diviners or in this case, communication with the dead. abominations like in graven images. abominations like the worship of false gods, and using using heathen rights in their form of worship. These are identifying characteristics. The worship, primarily the one that really hits me is primarily the worship of false gods. And we’re going to it’s interesting how Revelation 18 comes after which chapter? 17. So we’ll go into that in later detail.
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But the other one that we saw was blasphemy. verse three, so he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns. Now, give me a definition of blasphemy. Okay, to act like you can forgive sins. What about? I’m looking for the typical Adventist one, I’m looking for the specific one. Because to call myself as God to consistently reject truth and evidence, right? This is the one that we always hear in seminars, you people are too well studied. He didn’t give me the right answer. You’re too well studied. When they use that is the one I use all the time. Is that correct? Yes, it is correct. But that’s not the only thing. That is blasphemy. That’s not the only thing that’s blasphemy. We find a basic definition in Revelation 13 six, and it’s to speak against or to slander. This is really a broad definition of blasphemy to speak against or to slander. And it doesn’t just have to be against God, or the Holy Spirit’s in First Kings 2110. It can be against the king blasphemy Oftentimes, I’ve been charged with blasphemy. But we’re gonna look at this and see the broader context of blasphemy. And we’re, and I think as we go through this, you’re going to see this as an identifying mark of Babylon. One definition, if you will. And again, it fits under the broad definition of to speak against or to slander, but as to claiming something claiming to be something you are not. Let’s look at Mark 14. Now,
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I want you to realize that what is going on in Mark 14, is from a Jewish perspective, okay? That’s something that needs to be remembered. So this we’re seeing a definition of blasphemy here, but we got to remember is from the Jewish perspective, that’s important. Mark 14, verses 61 to 63. This is Jesus standing before the high priest in the Sanhedrin. In verse 61, says, but he that’s Jesus held his peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him and said unto him, are now the Christ, the Son of the blessing. Now, when you compare this, I believe it’s with Matthew, the question is arthel, the son of God, so who’s who’s the blessing? It’s God, it’s the Father, are now the Son of God. Are you the Son of the Blessed One? What does Jesus say? Verse 62. And Jesus said, I am. He was claiming to be the Son of God, right there before the whole Sanhedrin. He was claiming to be the Son of God, and he goes on, and he shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Verse 63, then the high priest rent his clothes.
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By the way, I think it’s in The Desire of Ages where Ellen White says that that is when they were divorced of God, when the high priest rent his clothes. That is, when they were divorced of God. The high priest rent his clothes and saith, what need we any further witness? in their minds? And when you compare this with others, you find that this is blasphemy in their minds, because in their minds, he’s claiming to be something he’s not. But is he the Son of God? Amen. Absolutely. And we find find the same thing in Mark chapter two and verse seven, but we won’t go there. And you find it in these other verses, Matthew 26:65, John 10:33, Mark 2:7 and Revelation 2:9, you find this idea of claiming to be something that you are not, as to be blasphemy. This Babylonian system claims Jesus to be the original God, and not the Son of God. In a sense, this fits under the definition of blasphemy, claiming him to be something he’s not. Is Jesus God? Yeah, yes. I’ve been hearing a lot lately that he’s not. But John 1:1. I, that’s one of my favorite verses that so destroys the Trinity doctrine is not funny, and yet they quote it. I love it. John 1:1, He was with God, the Word was with God, and this Jesus, and he was God. How can he be the God that he’s with? He cannot. that destroys the Trinity doctrine right there. But it clearly says that Jesus is God. Thomas fell at the feet of Jesus and said was My Lord and my God, did Jesus say, Oh, no, don’t do that. No. Is he the Father? No, he’s not the Father. But he is God. Even God said so in Hebrews one. Titus 2:13. Also “the great God”. There’s many places. But is he the original God? No, he’s the express image of the original. He’s 100% divine, but he is the express image of the original he’s not the same thing. And to claim him to be something that he is not, would fit under blasphemy. This organization claims to be a Christian organization, when they’re really a pagan organization. It’s baptized paganism under the name of Christian. That’s all it is. They claim to be the representative of Jesus. They’re claiming to be something they are not. In fact, they claim to be God on earth. That’s blasphemy. And it fits under this definition. And is it That’s a powerful identifying mark, very powerful identifying mark.
40:10
We’ll look at one more, attributing the power of God to someone other than God. Let’s look at this. Matthew 12:24. And we’re gonna look at verse 24. And then 28, and then 31. Matthew 12:24. But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. Okay, so they’re saying that the power with which he is using is not that of God, but it’s that of the devil. So they’re attributing the power of God to someone other than God, right? They’re attributing it to the power of the devil. What does Jesus say in verse 28, but if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come on to you. And when you compare that to Luke 11:20, it’s a in Luke 11:20, it says, the finger of God, instead of the Spirit of God is the finger of God. Now, it’s not like God lopped off his finger and handed it to Jesus and said, throw this at them. It’s the same meaning the power of God. So he’s doing these things by the power of God, and, and what do they say in verse and 31? wherefore I sent you, this is what Jesus says, Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the holy spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. This is the power of God that Jesus is using. But this system, the Babylonian system, says, No, it is not the power of God. It’s not the power of the Father. It’s the power of another entity, another individual, God, the spirits. That, according to this definition, is blasphemy. You know, I’ve heard a lot of times, oh, you, you’re in danger of blaspheming, the Holy Spirit. Well, if you say that the power of God, instead of it being the Holy Spirit, it’s God, the spirit that’s attributing the power of God to someone other than God. And by what I see, that is blasphemy. And I think these are powerful, identifying marks of this system.
42:40
So if we go back to Revelation, chapter 17. So when it says in Revelation 17, in verse three, so he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, not one name of blasphemy, multiple names of blasphemy, having seven heads and 10 horns, we find that blasphemy is to speak against or to slander God. And all of these other things of blasphemy do fit under this definition. When you claim to be something you are not, you’re ultimately speaking against God, you’re slandering God. And when you attribute the power of God, to someone other than God, then your blast beaming. And this this is an identifying mark of Babylon, to blast theme. And it is something that for me from now on is going to go into my Bible when I study with someone. Because I think this really helps to nail down these points. And it also at the same time, helps to show the importance of the truth that is found in the Word of God. That we are to worship the Father and the Son, the father and son alone are to be exalted, not someone else, no one else has to be put there. We are not to say that Jesus is something that he is not. We are not to attribute the power of the father to someone else. And yet, this power does all of these things. And in Revelation 18, God calls us come out of her, my people. Are you willing to come out of her? Are you God’s people? Are you willing to come out of this system and it’s theologies? Amen. Where possible, let us kneel in prayer.
44:59
Heavenly Father, we gone through your word. And we’ve seen just two very powerful identifying marks of Babylon. Father, I don’t want anything to do with it. We as a people, we want nothing to do with it, we could see in your word that it these are appearances these are an abomination unto you. And Father, we don’t want an abomination. We don’t want to be a part of that. And Father, we don’t want to be a part of any system that is blaspheming you in any way, shape or form. And so Father, I pray that you will send angels that excel in strength to watch over and protect each and every one of us that has made a commitment here today before you to come out of these systems. Lord, I pray that you will watch over and protect us because the devil does not want us coming out. He wants us to remain a part of Babylon, so that we may receive of her plagues the Father we don’t want to receive of them, and I know that you don’t want us to. And so Father, I thank you for each and every one here. I thank you for a family that has committed to follow you and your son. And Lord, I pray that you will feel each and every one of us so fully with your spirit, that people no longer see us but instead they see Jesus in us. And as we walk carefully picking flowers. Thank you, Father for pointing out the thorns. This I asked in Jesus name, amen.