And there came one of the seven angels which
had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying
unto me, Come higher; I will shew unto thee the
judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon
many waters: with whom the kings of the earth
have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into
the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a
scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,
having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her head
was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF
THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the
martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration.
Revelation 17:1-6
John is taken into the wilderness and a vision was given to him about the judgment of God, a judgment that was to come upon this whore, this woman of fornication and blasphemy. This is a wilderness in every way, a place where a woman of this type can only be found, a place so bewildering, wild, savage, a place where one can find a wild beast. This woman, a whore and why a whore? She is a whore because she commits promiscuous activity, not only to gain wealth financially, but to gain people to convert to her false teaching. This whore gains the approval of nations, of leaders of nations who have not only approved of such abominations but join in practicing those abominations. Yes, this whore has gained people from the secular world, but more than that she has gained people from the Churches throughout the world. How? By promises, visions, anecdotes that sound good but are unproven stories. She is a perfecter of counterfeit Christian faith. Over the earth many, and in one case it was stated that some 7,000 churches have fallen under her spell and that was written years earlier so they is most likely a greater number than reported. The report was only from the South Pacific seas so in the whole earth there must be more of those churches who follow after this abominable woman.
Is it just one denomination that follows this woman? No! From all denominations churches and church leaders have fallen under who spell. This woman has seven heads, that is, she is complete in all her blasphemy against God, and with ten horns, a worldly number she has people from all parts of earth under her control. Both religious, and secular people are following this false religion. Yes, this woman is adorned with beautiful things, clothed in beautiful things but is full of abominations, her cup if full and running over with false teachings.
Why is she called BABYLON? Remember from Babylon came false teachings that have invaded the thinking over the ages of men to follow after false gods. Babylon is the center of false religion. This whore, this woman, is a happy drunk, drunk on the wine of the blood of the saints and martyrs, those she has convinced to follower her and about those who are killed who will not follow her.
The whore is one who has great appeal to men and women. This appeal is to invite people to join in a "new" experience of God, to do this in a new way. This whore has caused a paradigm shift from faith to feelings, and from fact to fantasy, from reason to esoteric revelation (taken from Counterfeit Revival by Hank Hannegraf). The call is to experience God as seen by sardonic laughter, people jerking about in spasms, people calling out that they have a new prophesy, and speak of signs and wonders, and are being touted that these things are empirical evidence of the working of God. People are being "slain in the spirit", rolling around on the floor and falling into trances. People are being called to conform to this "new" experience rather that conform to Jesus Christ and the truth of Scripture.
The word translated admiration must not be confused with the literal translation of the Greek as it means to wonder, and in this case to wonder greatly. John was perplexed with great wonder as to what this whore was doing to Authentic Christians and to the world at large. We are to conform to Jesus and John reminds us of this fact: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1John 4:1). If that was the case in John's day, how much more is it so in our day? Just look at what is happening to the Church. We see people, those who can afford it, dressed as though they were going to a party at the park. People are may willing to sing small dittys that are not altogether bad, but really do not speak about sin or the need to repent, to point out how much we need Jesus. People are more concerned about how long a pastor preaches as though they will lose their reservation for lunch. Church has for the most part become a club, and the gospel is rarely preached, and if it is preached it is so often watered down so that people are offended. Jesus did not do this and He offended many. Sometimes to be offended makes a person not only angry but causes them to look into themselves and when they do the find they need Jesus.
Flee from this whore, this false teaching woman. Run to a Church where Scripture is taught without apology. An Authentic Christian, one who is authentically seeking the truth will do so!
If those ordinances depart
from Me,saith the LORD,
then the seed of Israel also
shall cease from being
a nation before Me forever.
Jeremiah 31:36
You are spiritual Israel
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment