Hello everyone, and welcome once again to the Bible Prophecy Masterclass.
In this 20th episode in our multi-part series involving a thorough consideration of the
18th chapter of the Book of the Revelation, we are going to move, by way of a few more
introductory remarks, into what might be termed Pandora's Box, or Part 2 of the discussion
begun in Episode No. 19.
The Achilles' Heal of the USA.
The idea espoused in this study is such that if an end-times mighty nation was raised up
by God to be the protector and guarantor of Israel's passage and preservation from its
Reformation as a nation to the outbreak of the events of the Apocalypse of John.
And, if that same powerhouse of a nation is slated by the same God who is the brain behind
her being has so decreed that she can and will be destroyed in relatively short order,
against all odds, then, the nations tasked with that dangerous, and perhaps, thankless,
preoccupation have, at the very least, at first glance, a virtually insurmountable problem.
Nonetheless, with a combined industrial might at the very least comparable to hers, all
agree, unwittingly, in full accord with the plans and will of the God they don't know,
that it is a task that must, can be and will be done.
How to Kill a Superpower.
I've got something for you, but… don't call it love.
Introduction.
Once the world over, do not realize that.
The same book that prophesied and promised the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations and
captivity, and the Roman diaspora.
The book that prophesies and promises the destruction of the Russo, Islamic, European
Confederacy.
That same book with that same assurance and certitude, guarantees a sudden, relentless,
thorough destruction of the greatest, mightiest and most prosperous nation of all time a nation
whose wealth, might and standing on the world stage and in the eyes of all who behold, make
it a superpower, as compared to all others.
They do not know this, because they do not study, nor will they submit to instruction.
i.e., they will not listen to the voice of the God whom they claim to love and serve.
While little active effort will be exhausted bringing her to repentance, the fact of her
prospective desolation will not come without ample warning as to her vulnerability.
Long though she is tied now to the world at large, at the hips of her markets on the
one hand, and her need for the lube of foreign, low-interest loans on the other, from a world
as deeply indebted to each other as she is to them.
She is neither invincible, nor is she impregnable.
Toward this end, her wake-up calls have been many.
Consider the section titled, Pandora's Box, page 170.
Birth of the Superpower.
Rise of Babylon the Great.
During the early days of the Church, great strides were made to restore some sense of
normalcy to everyday life, in a world accustomed to living that life without God.
God, who in past times allowed men to do as they pleased, is now calling all men to live
a life of repentance, according to Dr. Luke, in Acts 17.30.
The easiest, most accessible route toward that end was the slaughter of all the Christians
born then and who had begun to turn the world upside down, with their teaching and their
preaching.
Secular Rome, Revelation 16, and its Caesars, followed by the Roman Catholic Church, the
Great Horror, on the one hand, Revelation 17, under the Popes, were, essentially, the
undisputed masters of this trade.
Herein, the voice of God, and, thereby the intrusion of God into the affairs of men,
for the benefit of men, was, for a time, silenced.
People to keep the empire afloat at any level commensurate to its former glory days, Roman
emperors are said to have vanished behind the scenes ditching their crowns, and donning
miters only to re-emerge as the Popes withdrawn swords, making merchandise of the God of whom
they could not be rid, according to some, that is, like the late Jack Van Imp.
The Popes were actually, initially, the religious leaders of the Church at Rome, i.e., the
Church bishops, who were the privileged landowners, who attained political power by default.
That is, they were the ones to whom the people were naturally inclined to defer to for leadership,
in the absence of the emperors, after the empire fell.
They waited in bloodbaths supplied by the slit throats of believers and Jews alike who
would not serve God, per their apostate ritual.
In this mode, in this manner, being her religious aspect, the woman lived on.
Only a shadow of her former self, she has for centuries existed, actively nurturing,
occasionally stoking and stroking, primping and preening, as it were.
The seven-headed political remains from the ghost of her past, the powerless corpse of
a long dead beast.
A full-blown harlot now, blood soaked, and a mother to be to more to come, she has lived
a murderer's dream, in a true-to-lifetail of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Thus one thousand, five hundred years of dark ages, now called the Middle Ages, the purely
religious persona of the woman on the now-long dead beast of Revelation chapter 17.
The great whore has come slashing, robbing and pillaging in the name of God.
During this time, none was allowed the privilege of knowing or serving God, except as she specified.
On her orders, anywhere within her jurisdiction, any common person was denied the privilege
of any education by which he might read the Bible for himself.
Hereby, she controlled and was allowed to stay the hands of God the Almighty.
Thus, for these reasons, as such, there were essentially no Christians between roughly
500 A.D. and the years prior to and immediately following Martin Luther's 95 theses.
The passing of the baton.
Being German and himself Catholic, his own antisemitic misgiving and prejudice against
Jews notwithstanding.
It was Martin Luther's Reformation, which would, more or less, lead to a stay of the
advance of the Holy Roman Empire.
His effort opened the doors to the education of the masses and personal Bible reading.
In addition, it laid the foundation for the resurrection and rebirth of the Church, so
that it could thrive once again and grow according to God's agenda, somewhat.
At the same time, however, Luther's work admitted or invited fresh opportunity for
attack on the credibility of the Bible, so as to bloodlessly eradicate the reality of
God through education.
That is, through reason, the sciences and archaeology, enlightenment, higher criticism,
modernism, and technological advances which continue right up to this very hour.
Thus, it might rightly be argued that a lion's share of this fresh assault was carried in
viruses of reason spun by a series of baby harlots birthed within the loins of the Great
Whore, which in turn in time led to the birthing of, modern, political, economical, Babylon
the Great.
Thus, the baton was passed on, as it were, whereby, old school, Babylonian thought and
thinking calling for brute force, backed by swords of steel, was supplanted by a relatively
novel psychological and intellectual approach to, God-containment and eradication.
Based upon the sort of reason, see sidebar below, coup d'etat, page 170.
In this new combined attack by the Great Whore and her infant harlots, God is kept always
before the people, yet, conveniently out of reach so that they never know or serve the
true and living God of the Bible.
Ironically, while little of the Bible's history and nothing of the Bible's many claims having
physics or scientific overtones could have been proved by any theologian, Christian Bible
scholars or preachers, teachers of any stripe, anywhere prior to the turn into the 20th century.
All of this renewed antagonism has at best backfired whatever its success is, on the
other hand.
Far from destroying the Bible's credibility through reason, modernism, education, etc.
thereby eliminating God from the equation of daily living, practically every claim has
been established and is now verifiable by these very disciplines whatever has not been
proven, will be soon.
Therefore, we conclude then that, although God was discarded as unnecessary during World
War II and declared dead in Babylon during the 60s, all the evidence in the entire world
shows him to be very much alive.
He stands ready, eager to and able to deal with those of his enemies who have sought
to shut him out of existence altogether, on the one hand, or to make merchandise of his
own name where they could not, on the other hand.
God, to many, is big business, representing an industry worth over $5 billion, today.
One by one, the most prominent of all these eschatological adversaries are to be brought
down to ashes and ruin most notably Babylon the Great, strongest ever, and the most prosperous
of them all.
Who is Babylon the Great?
The Bible anticipates, with virtual longing, the demise of this hated and loathsome entity
known to God symbolically as Babylon the Great.
In addition to ancient Babylon of OT Bible fame, Babylon is mentioned at least two other
times in Scripture.
Most Bible scholars and so-called prophecy experts see two.
Only one, Revelation 18, is literal, more or less, the other figurative, Revelation 17.
In that usage of the term merely describes the air, attitude or the atmosphere surrounding
another despicable entity, Rome, on account of the presence and influence of an apostate
fundamentally religious institution known to God as the Great Horror, each of which
are also on God's radar screen for total destruction religious and political.
That same entity is referred to as Babylon, on its own merit.
Both are separate entities, each existing in its own right, yet, under the same banner.
Both are destined to be decimated completely annihilated per the mind and will of Almighty
God.
For Revelation 17, the woman and the Great Horror.
One will be destroyed during the apocalyptic period, during its latter 3.5 years before
the return of Israel's Messiah, in two phases.
1.
The Great Horror by the Beast and his Ten Nation Confederacy.
At the commencement of his rise and reign.
Revelation 17, verses 16-17.
2.
The Woman, the Birthplace and the Permanent Abode of the Great Horror.
During the demise of her political persona.
By the hand of God.
During the global earthquake.
Near the middle of the latter 3.5 years before Christ's return.
Revelation 16, verses 19-20.
The other Babylon the Great Revelation 18.
Will be a truly global, cosmopolitan entity indeed.
Immensely wealthy, far eclipsing Rome and global scope, power and influence.
Having many people and nations cow-toeing to her.
Albeit, without normal path to dominance through war and tyranny.
Furthermore, this last of the Babylon's will be wiped out first, well in advance of that
period.
Though it too is portrayed as undeniably, and unmistakably a high-profiled, internationally
recognized and respected, well-connected, very prominent, very powerful.
Although an entirely eschatological entity.
Being as well a potent player in global economics and politics.
There are a total of 3 figurative applications of the term Babylon in the book of the Revelation
of the Lord Jesus the Christ.
One simply references a specific entity by the pseudonym Babylon.
i.e.
The woman or Rome of Revelation Chapter 17.
While of the other 2 applications.
Babylon the Great refers to that same entity in a different light.
That is, the woman or Rome with the inscription written across her forehead.
Revelation Chapter 17.
Whereas the second identifies a powerful end times entity.
Revelation Chapter 18.
Of the three, each is known by its own uniquely distinct, divinely tailored profile.
These identifying characteristics reveal the following.
One of those can only be Rome as representative of all of Italy.
Thus it is a political establishment and will be destroyed last.
Revelation Chapter 16.
So rated and named because of Vatican City, Seat of the Great Horror, Revelation Chapter
17.
Which, of itself represents both a primarily religious institution.
Which is also an internationally recognized political institution.
It is this primarily religious aspect of Babylon.
To be wiped out first.
She is recognized all over the world as an independent nation smallest in the world.
Occupying all of 108.7 acres as it sits well within the confines of the city of Rome itself.
From there she, through her Pope, exerts religious authority and control over more than 1 billion
souls as she jealously seeks ways to curtail Protestant activities within any domain under
her jurisdiction.
At the same time, this great whore through this same pontiff, rubs shoulders on the secular
stage with world leaders as a political force.
The Vatican is the seat of the great whore and it is on her account that Rome has stenciled
across her forehead the expression, mystery.
Babylon the Great.
Revelation Chapter 17.
Not to be confused with Babylon the Great.
Revelation Chapter 18.
Lastly, that Babylon the Great whose destruction will be celebrated throughout the heavens
will actually be the first to be destroyed.
This is the one portrayed in Chapter 18 of the book of the Revelation.
The particulars surrounding the identity of Babylon the Great infer that she is someone
unique among all of history's global powers.
These reveal the following about her.
It is here that any possibility of confusing her with the woman.
Revelation Chapter 17 is precluded.
1.
Religion is an integral part of her makeup as evinced by God's use of the term fornication.
Its use is not arbitrary.
An OT metaphorical concept used of God to describe Israel's infidelity as she, as a
nation, chose to prostrate herself to other kings of the earth, their religions and false
gods.
It is used here to signify, similarly, that Babylon has a reputation as one who should
have had a positive relationship with him, but has irreparably tarnished that relationship.
Moreover, that she has, fornicated, seems to infer that he, as with Israel, takes full
responsibility for her existence.
2.
She is rich and fabulously wealthy, and, as such, she is equally conceited, haughty,
vain, glorious, self-satisfied, not to mention, egotistical.
3.
The souls of men adorn her treasures.
No doubt a reference in these times not just to slavery, which still exists today, and
people smuggling for prostitution and cheap labor, but to the millions upon millions of
unborn babies killed annually.
All around the world, as well as in Babylon, to promote sexual pleasure without responsibility
for cosmetics by which women beautify themselves at the expense of human life and to fuel farms
of stem cells to give life to those who refuse to die.
Her wealth and merchandise stems from free trade with the nations of the world so that
many merchants around the globe have grown immensely wealthy, amassing great fortunes
but, to a very large, very real degree, are hopelessly dependent upon her, so that men
of the world virtually bow to her, not to God, without her, they know that they cannot,
corporately or individually produce and maintain prosperously the same level of goods and services.
Her relationship with her trading partners is in stark contrast to kingdoms as late as
the British Empire.
Consider Hitler and Japan during World War II.
The Saddam Hussein incursion into Kuwait during the early 90s, which always sought only to
enrich themselves at the expense of others by war or threat of war even if it meant
bankruptcy to those subdued and subjugated, meaning, of course, that their relationship
was largely compulsory.
4.
She is hated of God.
Unlike as is the case involving his people the Jews, he seeks no reconciliation to her.
Rather, he issues a stern warning in recognition that he does in fact have precious soul to
the souls caught up in her self-delusion, enamored by her wealth, bewitched by her charm.
All who call themselves by the name of the only born son are to take stock of themselves
and their heading, then, separate completely, coming altogether out from her, or risk suffering
the same fate as she, even if they are in fact Christians.
5.
Whatever her greatness and power she can and will be brought down, irretrievably ruined,
while at the height of her success, even while global economics is booming, more or less,
in only one hour.
6.
Her collapse means shipwreck to economies all over the planet.
What this means then is that this Babylon the Great, although definitely a solid end-times
entity, will never see the trials and trauma of the apocalyptic period.
No nation will survive beyond the seal judgments of the apocalypse, living high on the hog.
Whether the Vatican, the Great Whore, nor Rome, the woman riding the beast, who is the birthplace
and the location where the whore lives, will be sacked prior to the second half of the
so-called Great Tribulation, spanning more than seven years.
With the blood of the mentality of past kingdoms running fresh in warmongering veins to within
virtually fifty years of our modern backdoor.
What's yours is mine.
And as soon as I have a big enough stick, and enough bodies to sacrifice on the altar
of my greed or need, whichever is strongest, I will come, whoop your butt, and take what
you have for myself.
It is not difficult to envision what an oddity this Babylon the Great is.
As a cosmopolitan, global entity.
Against the backdrop of all the rest.
There will never again be anything else like her.
It might be argued that, the concept of nations trading, and flourishing economically, freely,
relatively speaking, perhaps, independently, is one foreign to the minds of many a nation,
even today.
Imagine then the difficulty for John and those living during those days when Rome dictated
the foreign policy of the nations under its dominion economic and political trying to
envision times like ours.
Thus, although her metaphorical designation specifies, city, the reference here is not
to a specific city at all.
As much as it implies a great nation.
Being an end times entity, where there are no single such great cities that can wield
and boast that kind of leverage and influence.
There being nothing like it in the past among city, states, kingdoms or nations that leaves
only one possible foot to fit this theological imprint, as fashioned and tendered by Almighty
God.
Given the current global state of affairs, and, therefore the very real, high probability
that there is not likely to ever be anything like it again.
That nation cannot but be our very own United States of America.
Certainly, this great melting pot can and does fit the profile, in every aspect thereof,
to a T.
If this is true, then it points up another very subtle perhaps, but pungent truth.
The biggest, gravest threat facing the American public right now is neither al-Qaeda, nor
is it radical Islam or the Russians.
Rather, it is the all-powerful hand and the instigation behind these man-made dangers
we face that poses the greatest danger, that being, the sovereign Lord of all the universe
himself, Elohim Jehovah, the self-existing One, who lives eternally, in multiple persons.
The man-made evils present are merely tools in his hands, options, a means to the accomplishment
of a predetermined end, while at the same time being indelible proof that validates
and establishes the credibility of his word the Bible.
He has foretold and thereby given plenty of advance warning of his plans to cut things
short, in short order.
At this moment, all the pieces rest dangerously in place to do just that.
Pandora's Box.
How to Kill the Superpower.
In light of today's awe-inspiring wartime killing technologies, it only seems logical
and reasonable to interpret the one-hour time frame within which the greatest man-made
political, economic, and military force man has ever known is projected to collapse, as
a literal possibility.
One said, it seems rational enough, but is it?
If indeed the US is in God's economy the only possible shoe that fits the foot of Babylon
the Great, as it most assuredly appears to be, is it really sensible to believe that
even God can bring down so great, so awesome a world force and military power, so widely
disbursed a people as we, in only one hour?
I mean, us the United States of America.
How utterly absurd.
Right, after all, are we not a Christian nation and people, in God's eyes to say nothing
of our own?
Granted, many awesome weapons of mass destruction have surfaced since the turn of the 20th century
the most horrifying, for even an industrious power like the US, being the hydrogen atomic,
nuclear bombs, and nuclear-tipped ICBMs.
More horrific than this weapon itself is the fact that they are becoming ever more accessible
to unstable, hostile, concerns with their eye on America, and that, not for good.
And yet, there is a greater, more alarming evil than either of these lurking in the wings,
as we shall see.
One or several nuclear bursts within the shores of the contiguous states can do a lot of damage,
but, would that be enough to bring down such an institution?
As will be shown by the section on Operation Abel Archer, page 170, in light of their understanding
of how the US would most likely launch a pre-emptive first strike against them, the Russians have
no intention of ever attempting such a feat with only a handful of their 6,000 or so nuke
warheads.
How many would it take, and as a conventional nuclear offensive even likely, given the high
probability of mutually assured destruction, in retaliation?
Again, for a chilling perspective of what will likely transpire in the future, based
upon what almost happened in the past, fast forward to the Abel Archer article.
Also, remember that by God's design, Babylon is to be sacked while relatively strong, and
the going for her and the world around her is reasonably good, not while she is weak
and vulnerable to the point of being powerless.
But, one may well be wondering, is it not always possible, that an enemy force from
offshore could, at some point, invade the land to take it by force?
And, of course, one cannot but respond with a resounding, yes.
Highly unlikely though that may be.
After all, whatever its faults and weakness, it is still no less the most powerful nation
on the planet.
So, if a nuke attack within the confines of its normal usage is unseemly, so is this.
Without doubt, God himself could do the unthinkable, directly and virtually without effort.
But, is that his preferred method? Although he places himself squarely at the helm, the
unseen hand guiding and delivering the judgment which will eventually grip her loins, dragging
her without a fight pearls, pedestal, prowess and power down into the dusts, sands and ashes
of an everlasting destruction, the evidence suggests otherwise.
The ultimate cause will be God.
The immediate cause will be the nations.
Furthermore, together with today's WMD, 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, makes for interesting
and troublesome possibilities.
Too many of whom are willing to kill themselves, killing Americans for the prize of celestial
sex with 10 virgins.
Whether Taliban or al-Qaeda, Hamas or Fata, Shia or Sunni, hostile, terrorist sleeper cell
groups among 12 million undocumented aliens scattered throughout the nation today, along
with growing international dissatisfaction with and resentment toward this country only
adds to the fires of an already worrisome situation.
That brings us full circle, back to the original concern.
What is likely to be the vehicle the mechanical element that God uses to accomplish so dreadful,
so terrifying a deed? In only one hour if not his own hand? Consider the sidebar below.
Wake up calls to all of America and to its American churches, page 171.
Good way to hell. The threat. Pandora's box is a mythological figment of ancient
Grecian thought. Herein, as Greek legend would have it, the God Zeus, in anger, commissioned
the creation of the first woman, who when given a box, was told that she was never to
open it.
When placed within a world of men, who had lived happily until she came, curiosity got
the best of her, so that the world of men was never the same again.
Upon opening that box, she and her disobedience inadvertently released all of the troubles
faced by mankind.
In some sense, the technological advances upon which modern American society is built,
is on the verge of proving itself to be at once a Pandora's box and the Achilles' heel
of the only way of life the Americans know.
Everyone remembers Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the World War II horror stories behind them
each developed and delivered personally by American hands.
We know, as well, the inevitable threat that now by consequence never slumbers, resting
peacefully perhaps, but no less menacingly.
In silence, it daily greets our every waking moment. It is a threat that has been held in
check over the years only by jointly held pledges of mutually assured destruction.
Today, one of those original players, being seriously weakened, does nothing to lessen
that threat.
This in large part to the weaker player, more weak and unstable, trigger happy, players
now dot the global landscape. Eager for recognition and difficult or impossible to control. Fidgety
nullifiers of an otherwise effective deterrent to the now inevitable.
But, this is only one half of the overall threat. The threat, within a threat. Founded
perhaps squarely upon the pillars of one curious query in 1939. What's going to happen if we
hit this uranium atom with a neutron? Pandora's box was formally opened before the eyes of
the world in Japan almost 80 years ago, 6 August 1945.
Consequently, there is now known to have been a very real, very viable, now pliable, and
unimaginably potent threat, within that original threat.
It was one neither perceived nor understood at the time, although it had been demonstrated,
well in advance.
With many nations wishing to see the demise of the US, none being individually, or corporately
able to bring that to pass without enormous risk to themselves, it is within this threat
within the threat where lies the arrowhead or the venomous fangs now poised to pierce
the Achilles heel of the strongest nation on earth.
Does one think all this to be strange? Is it not even more bizarre, when one considers
that the nation itself, effectively, has been a leader on the road to its own desolation
that, as the country and its churches even now arrogantly deny the practicality of the
word of the very God who foretold of its brief, but calamitous day of doom?
The blueprint for her desolation will be one for which she was the principal architect,
having laid the original groundwork.
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this ends another edition of the Bible Prophecy Masterclass.
Prayerfully, you have been and are being blessed by these highly informative studies, and,
we hope that you will tell others about them so that they too can be blessed and prepared
to warn the lost, as they contribute to the winning of many souls to a saving knowledge
of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We hope also that you will plan to be with us next time for episode number 21 of this
podcast.
Until then, may the good Lord bless and keep you.