The Following is taken from prophecyproof.org and posted on manifestedbythelight.com on march 21 20011.
Introduction
Revelation 17 is perhaps the most challenging chapter in the entire Bible. There is a lot of symbolism in this chapter which has led people to make a wide variety of interpretations on the meaning of the chapter these past 1900+ years. The text makes it clear that only a select few will be able to understand the visions given in this chapter; those that have “the mind of wisdom” (Revelation 17:8). Revelation 17 presents two distinct entities: the beast (Antichrist) and the harlot that rides it. The focus of this study is on the harlot that rides the beast.[1]
The Great Harlot
The chapter begins with John of Patmos being taken spiritually into the wilderness to view the harlot and the beast she rides on.
o Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
o Rev 17:2 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.
o Rev 17:3 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.
The harlot is identified as “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the Abominations of the Earth”. The harlot is adorned with all sorts of luxurious items, which is an indication of great wealth.
o Rev 17:4 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:
o Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
o Rev 17:6 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.
The word “Mystery” in the title conveys that identifying what Babylon the Great represents needs a spiritual interpretation. There is a widespread consensus that “Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots” represents a false religious system whose roots originated in ancient Babylon and whose practices also have permeated in other religious systems as Babylon is the mother (the originator) of the abominations of the earth. However, there is disagreement about what religious practices constitute the false religious system.
The most popular argument is that the Babylonian religious system is based on Mother Child Worship beginning with Semiramisand Tammuz to the Virgin Mary and Jesus of Nazareth today. However, Revelation 13 tells us that the future, one world religious system involves the worship of Antichrist and the dragon. Therefore, Mother Child Worship cannot be the false religious system that Revelation 17 is alluding to since it will not permeate during the time when the Antichrist will reign.
The fact that Revelation 17 mentions Babylon the Great’s existence on earth during the time of the Antichrist’s (the beast) reign means that the religion of ancient Babylon will be restored on earth again during the end times. This leads to three important questions that I will attempt to address in the rest of this report:
1. What religious teachings/practices constituted the ancient Babylonian religious system?
2. How have these religious teachings/practices permeated in other false religious systems?
3. What will this false religious system resemble when it is instituted in the future?”
The Origins of the Mystery Religion
Revelation 17 describes Babylon the Great as a one-world religion. The global dominance of the ancient Babylonian religion is not unprecedented because it existed as a global religion during the time of the Tower of Babel’s construction:
"Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.' And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, 'Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech” Genesis 11:1-9
The chief deities of the Babylonian religion were Semiramus and Tammuz, who was believed to have been her late husband, Nimrod, reincarnated/reborn as a result of a virgin birth. Semiramus and Tammuz were worshipped by followers of this religion so those who argue that Babylonian the Great represents mother-child worship have some basis for their argument. However, there is much more to the ancient Babylonian religious system than just mother-child worship. The ancient Babylonian religion was “a terrible false religion developed with its sun and moon worship, priests, astrology, demonic worship, worship of stars associated with their gods, idolatry, mysterious rites, human sacrifice, and more”.[i]
The Tower of Babel likely was built for the inhabitants of the earth to aid them in practicing the occult. The original Hebrew indicates that the Tower of Babel was an astrological tool:
“But what happens when the Hebrew wording is translated literally? We then have ‘a tower whose top [is] into heaven.’ (cf. NKJV). And this is exactly what ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat temple-towers were for! The top compartment represented heaven. The inner walls, in all probability, were decorated with blue glazed tile, with the sun, the moon, and the five known planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) lined up along the plane of the zodiac. In the centre of the room would be their ‘god’ seated upon a throne!” [ii]
The original Hebrew also indicates that mankind could have gain access to hidden knowledge with the help of a completed tower:
"Nothing will be restrained from them." The Hebrew word "Batsar" means secrets, mysteries or inaccessible things will no longer be restrained. This can only mean a breach in the space/time continuum. Zamam is used for imagined and means to plot or devise in a negative sense… The tower of Babel was actually the pinnacle of occult knowledge. Occult simply means secret knowledge. The tower represents the attempt to reassemble and maintain the "secret" knowledge which we now can understand as the physics and technology used before the flood. This is logical to see when in the Law, this very act was forbidden”.[iii]
The Lord stopped men before they could gain complete access to hidden knowledge. In the process He also facilitated the creation of new cultures and civilizations…
The Mystery Religion's Legacy
When the Lord scattered groups of people throughout the earth they took with them the legacy of the universal religion. As time progressed each group’s religious system began to deviate from the original one-world religious system to fit the culture they developed as a result of being geographically removed from other groups. Nevertheless, many common elements of the ancient Babylonian religion remained in groups of people that were scattered around the world. Evidence of how the ancient Babylonian religious system has inspired the practices of other religious systems can be seen by the observations of travelers who lived over two thousand years apart. The Greek historian Herodotus during his travels "witnessed the Mystery religion and its rites in numerous countries and mentions how Babylon was the primeval source from which ALL systems of idolatry flowed.[iv] Nineteenth century German author and world traveler Austen Layard wrote “that we have the united testimony of sacred and profane history that idolatry originated in the area of Babylonia - the most ancient of religious systems”.[v]
A Key Symbol: The Swastika
One of the most enigmatic symbols in history is the swastika. The swastika is revered as a religious symbol in Buddhism and Hinduism, yet has negative connotations in the West. While the swastika today has negative connotations in the West, it has been a symbol “used for thousands of years already in almost all human civilizations as a sign for good luck, protection, as a materialisation of life and the changing seasons of the year”.[vi] The most infamous users of the swastika were the Nazis; led by Adolf Hitler, who chose the swastika as the symbol of his political party. During a conversation at a museum, Hitler made an enigmatic statement hinting that one can reach a greater understanding if they look at how the swastika has moved throughout the world through time:
“If one were to correctly combine maps of the Nordic migrations, the Indo-Germanic language areas, the swastika, and other mutualities, and to represent them by millennia and later by centuries, to the extent that research results makes this possible, it might result in a conception of the world that would allow us to understand many things which are not comprehensible today”.[vii]
I believe that Hitler was serious when he said we can gain understanding by tracking the swastika. The following map[2]illustrates where the swastika has appeared in civilizations through history.
From this map you can clearly see that the swastika is a symbol that has been widely used on virtually every continent through history. I believe the widespread use of the swastika is proof that there was a one-world religion in the past. How else could people spread throughout the world manage to possess the same symbol with virtually the same meaning over thousands of years unless there was once a time when there was once a single, world religion? The preservation of the swastika over thousands of years also demonstrates that pieces of the mystery religion have been preserved in several groups around the world.
The New Age Religious Synthesis
The New Age Movement is a rapidly growing religious movement. Followers of the movement promote the synthesis of Eastern and Western religious practices as they claim that all paths lead to God. However, in the process of merging East with West the concepts of Christianity become heavily diluted to the point that it is hardly recognizable anymore in the New Age Religion. The New Age Movement’s ability to incorporate concepts of many religions is helping it to rise in prominence and to attract believers from all faiths.
The New Age Movement represents an attempt by Satan to reassemble the ancient Babylonian mystery religion from all the parts that have been scattered and preserved through history. The religious practices followers of the New Age Movement adhere to are simply the same practices that followers of the ancient Babylon religion followed: “The polytheistic religious of the East and those in ‘new age/new spirituality’ beliefs and witchcraft all have a common root source in ancient Babylon and they share the common polytheist and/or pantheist beliefs of the mystery religion that began at Babylon”.[1] In addition, while I do not agree with a lot of what Texe Marrs teaches, even he found “nearly 30 rituals and beliefs found in ancient Babylon that are practiced today in the New Age Movement! Everything from reincarnation to occult meditation...” [2]
Restoring the Mystery Religion
Under the direction of an Ascended Master (a spiritual being mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 6:12 as the “spiritual wickedness in high places”) named Djwhal Khul, New Age author Alice Bailey wrote that Freemasonry currently upholds many elements of the mystery religion, including its symbols and its rituals. [3] While Bailey viewed Masonry in its current state as being corrupt, she noted that Masonry will later aid the restoration of the mystery religion:
“Masonry - inadequate and corrupt as it has been and guilty of over-emphasizing certain forms of symbols - is nevertheless a germ or seed of the future hierarchical effort when that effort is - at some later date - externalized on Earth ------- Masonry is governed by the 7th ray, and when certain important changes have been made and the spirit of Masonry is grasped instead of the letter, then we shall see a new kind of hierarchical endeavor appear to aid in the restoration of the ancient and sacred Mysteries among men”.[4]
The link between the Freemasonry and ancient Babylon is further demonstrated by Freemason’s high regard for Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. For instance, “in ‘The Masonic Quiz Book’, the question is asked, ‘Who was Nimrod’, the answer is, ‘He was the son of Cush. In the old Constitutions referred to as one of the Founders of Freemasonry, and in the Scriptures as the architect of many cities’”.[5] Similarly “in the Masonic York Rite Manuscript we find: ‘at the making of the Tower of Babel there was Masonry first much esteemed of, and Nimrod was a Mason himself and loved well Masons’”.[6] Another Masonic author named John Yarker says: "it is well known that the Tower of Babel was one of the most ancient traditions of Masonry...” [7]
Bailey wrote that the New Age Christ Maitreya (the leader of the Ascended Masters and a spiritual being that meets John’s description of the spirit of Antichrist[8]) will restore the Mysteries soon after he reveals himself to the world: "...Mysteries will be restored to outer expression through the medium of the Church and the Masonic Fraternity...When the Great One [Maitreya] comes with His disciples and initiates, we shall have the restoration of the Mysteries..." [9] The restoration of the Mysteries by the Antichrist will simultaneously lead the unification of all faiths, which is the objective of the New Age Movement: “He will move to restore the ancient spiritual landmarks, to eliminate that which is non-essential, and to reorganize the entire religious field - again in preparation for the restoration of the Mysteries. These Mysteries, when restored, will unify all faiths”.[10]
Teachings of the New Age Religion
The teachings of the New Age Religion are likely going to center on these issues:
- There is a God
- A Person is Divine
- There is Reincarnation
- Evolution of the Soul
- The Restoration of the Mysteries
- Continual Revelation and Appearance of Messengers
- De-Emphasize Glamour
Self Divinity
The New Age Religion is likely going to promote the existence of divinity. However, the New Age concept of God is not the same as the Christian concept. The New Age Religion is more aligned with the Eastern conception of divinity, that is, there is an element of divinity in everyone.[11] The New Age Religion is likely going to emphasize that the spirit in each person is immortal and individuals will tap into this divinity as time goes on.[12] The following passage summarizes these combined teachings:
“His work when He reappears will be to prove the fact of these possibilities and to reveal the true nature and potency of man. The proclamation He made that we were all sons of God and own one universal Father will, in the near future, no longer be regarded as a beautiful, mystical and symbolic statement, but will be regarded as a proved scientific pronouncement. Our universal brotherhood and our essential immortality will be proven to be facts in nature”.[13]
These three teachings about divinity basically retell the same lie that Satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden. “You shall not die-you are a god”:
- Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
- Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
The Restoration of Mysteries
Recall that Bailey predicted that Maitreya will restore the Mysteries soon after he reveals himself to the world. What exactly are the hidden secrets associated with the Mysteries? Bailey hinted at some of the Mysteries that are likely going to be restored and revealed:
"These ancient Mysteries were originally given to humanity by the Hierarchy and contain the entire clue to the evolutionary process, hidden in numbers, in ritual, in words and in symbology; these veil the secret of man’s origin and destiny, picturing to him in rite and ritual, the long, long path which he must tread, back into the light." [14]
The Mysteries that likely are going to be restored are indeed religious practices that originated in the ancient Babylonian religion. They consist of using numerology, esoteric astrology (which “partakes of principles that were once secret and taught only in the ancient mystery schools” and not the same type of astrology that is practiced today), occult ritual, occult symbols, and other esoteric practices.[15]
Reincarnation
Bailey wrote that “The Law of Rebirth”, also known as reincarnation, will be taught in the New Age Religion. However, this is not the same form of reincarnation that Eastern Religions have taught.[16] The Law of Rebirth teaches that souls move up the evolutionary ladder through time.[17]
New Revelations through Time
The New Age Religion is likely going to preach that there are continual revelations from messengers that are sent by God: “The great theme of the new world religion will be the recognition of the many divine approaches and the continuity of revelation which each of them conveyed”.[18] For example, it is likely going to be taught that Jesus is one of many messengers sent by God in the past and that Maitreya is the messenger (World Teacher) sent for the New Age.
The Dispelling of Glamour
The New Age Religion is likely going to encourage people to worry less about material possessions: "… initiates must and will inevitably shatter illusion and dispel glamour—the one by the intuitive recognition of reality by minds attuned to it, and the other by the pouring in of the light of the reason”.[19]
Worship in the New Age
Bailey wrote that the traditional practices of prayer and worship will be replaced by a new form of worship in the New Age Religion. One characteristic of New Age worship is likely going to involve a new type of gathering: “A gathering to invoke light, love and divine will (power), thus evoking or calling forth from the divinity within and beyond us all the enlightenment, love-wisdom, and power-for-good that this world desperately needs, and for which we all hunger”.[20] According to Bailey, another characteristic of New Age worship is likely going to involve the replacement of prayer with a new type of devotion:
“The science of invocation and evocation will take the place of what we now call prayer and worship. Be not disturbed by the use of the word "science." It is not the cold and heartless intellectual thing so oft depicted. It is in reality the intelligent Organization of spiritual energy and of the forces of love, and when effective, will evoke the response of spiritual Beings Who can again walk openly among men and thus establish a close relation and a constant communication between humanity and the spiritual Hierarchy”.[21]
Essentially, New Age worship is likely going to involve people calling upon spiritual entities (fallen angels and demons) so these entities can communicate with people and to relay instructions to people. I suspect this type of openness and communication is likely going to improve New Age followers and spiritual beings’ ability to hunt down non-initiates.
The New World Calendar
The Bible predicts that the Antichrist will change the laws and times (i.e. introduce a new calendar system):
- Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This is exactly what those who have knowledge of the New Age Religion say is going to happen. Holidays like Good Friday and Christmas are likely going to be completely banned while monthly New Age festivals are likely going to begin being celebrated worldwide.[22] In addition, followers of the New Age Religion are likely going to celebrate a festival every month with three major spiritual festivals each year. Each festival would occur during the time of a full moon, and each full moon celebration would correspond with a specific phase of the zodiac. The three major spiritual festivals of the New Age religion are likely going to be Easter, Wesak, and World Invocation Day:
- Easter: This is considered to be one of the holiest holidays in Christianity commemorating Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead. However, Easter’s origins are pagan rather than Christian. In fact, the name “Easter” is derived directly from the name “Ishtar”, a Babylonian goddess. The holiday originally commemorated “the resurrection of one of their (Babylonians) gods that they called ‘Tammuz’, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god”.[23] In addition, the customs that most people practice for this holiday also have roots in the original pagan version of this holiday.[24] In the New Age Religion Easter is likely going to commemorate “resurrection out of matter into Spirit, which makes one a liberated Master”.[25]
- Wesak: This is top holiday of Buddhism because followers consider this to be the birthday of Buddha. For New Agers this is a festival where spiritual energy is sent from the Shamballa (the new age spiritual center) throughout the earth.
- Festival of Goodwill: This is a festival dedicated to the reappearance of Maiterya. On this day the New Age followers from around the world get together to meditate and to recite the Great Invocation which is a prayer created by Djwhal Khul to call on Maitreya to come. According to Bailey, this day will be “a day whereon the spiritual and divine nature of mankind will be recognized”.[26]
Although the festivals outside the major three festivals are considered lesser ones, they are still likely going to have a place in the New Age Religion: “The remaining full moons will constitute lesser festivals but will be recognized to be also of vital importance. They will establish the divine attributes in the consciousness of man, just as the major festivals establish the three divine aspects”.[27]
Idol Worship
Revelation 13:14-15 tells us that the False Prophet will require people to make images of the Antichrist to worship.
- Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
- Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Benjamin Creme, the official spokesmen for Maitreya, falsely claims that Maitreya will not be a religious figure who will be the object of worship. Instead, Creme and other New Age writers present Maitreya as a benevolent teacher who will shun the worship of the masses. In fact, Creme quotes Maitreya claiming that he does not want to be worshipped and wants to be regarded as being on the same level as the people of Earth: “He has said: Do not worship Me. If you worship Me you are putting yourself below Me, whereas you are on the same level”.[28] This is simply a lie given by Maitreya and the forces of darkness. The Book of Revelation and 2 Thessalonians make it clear that Antichrist will demand the world to worship him.
- Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
- 2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
- 2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Initiation and the Mark of the Beast
The False Prophet will force followers of the New Age Religion to get a special mark on their right hand or forehead. Although the mark will enable a person to conduct transactions, a person could get by with having beast’s number or the name of the beast.
- Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
- Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
- Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
The fact that a person can also buy or sell by using the name of the beast or the number of the beast shows that people do not obtain the Mark of the Beast so that they buy or sell. The Mark of the Beast’s main purpose is to serve as a way for people to prove that their allegiances lie with Antichrist. In other words, accepting the Mark of the Beast means that you have declared yourself a follower of the Antichrist and thereby an opponent of God.
New Age sources also provide us with clues about what process people likely need to undergo in order to receive the Mark of the Beast. These sources indicate that people will need to participate in a special initiation process which will stealthily link their loyalty to Satan before they can receive the mark.
· According to Creme, the initiation process will be based on the process used by secret societies like the Freemasons: "Through the MASONIC tradition and certain esoteric groups will come the process of INITIATION. In this coming age millions of people will take the first and second initiation through these transformed and purified institutions." [29]
o The initiation ceremonies will take place at Masonic buildings and churches buildings.[30]
· Barbara Marx Hubbard, one of the leading New Age writers, suggests that each initiate will receive an easily visible mark at this ceremony: “Each shall be “sealed” with the seal of the living God. This means that they shall be marked, visibly identified, first to themselves, then to others”. This means that their inner eye in the forehead will be fully opened by this touch, henceforth awakening them from the womb of self-centeredness”.[31]
The New Age Religion initiation process is likely an evil process since the Mark of the Beast is likely going to be given at it. This conclusion is further supported by the highest level New Age writers. New Age author David Spangler suggested that this initiation can be called the “Luciferic Initiation”: “(He is) the great initiator.... Lucifer works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we move into a New Age ... each of us in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic Initiation ... for it is an initiation into the New Age”.[32] Bailey claimed that the initiation process will make people esoterically “born again” in the human heart.[33] Finally, Bailey provided further support to this conclusion when she wrote that the initiation process causes initiates to experience and express 666: “In an ancient book on numbers the INITIATE is defined as 'the one who has experienced and expressed 666 and found it naught; who has dropped the 6 and become the 66, and thus found himself on the Way; later, again, he drops the 6 and becomes the PERFECTED 6-FORM, the instrument and expression of spirit”.[34]
The possession of the Mark of the Beast is most likely is going be the factor that distinguishes between those who belong in the New Age and who does not belong. People who refuse to accept the mark will are likely going to be demonized as those who “embody the spirit of exclusiveness and separateness”. [35]
Those who refuse to take Mark of the Beast will be killed by a variety of ways. These people will be systematically eliminated by governments, die from inability to buy food, from natural death, and by the “wild beasts of the earth”.[36]
- Rev 6:7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
- Rev 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
One major reason there may be so many people willing to help the Antichrist and the False Prophet kill non-initiates is that people may become demon possessed after taking the initiation ceremony. Share International, the official website of Creme, describes the completion of obtaining a higher level of initiation as taking another step towards greater ability to do work to fulfill the plan, or in other words, an increase in the degree of demonic possession: “Each stage confers on the initiate a deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of God's Plan, a fuller awareness of his/her part in that Plan, and an increasing ability to work consciously and intelligently towards its fulfillment”.[37]
Babylon the Great City
While the harlot is named after a false religious system it also represents a city. In fact, this city will literally be the capital of the world because it rules over leaders of all other countries.
o Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
There are three traditional candidates for this great city: Babylon, Rome, and Jerusalem. Since the identity of this great city is “Mystery Babylon the Great” a non-literal interpretation is needed to identify the exact city. Therefore, Babylon, the ancient city in Iraq, is unlikely the city that Revelation is referring to.[1] Rome is also unlikely to be the great city because the Bible never refers to Rome as a “great city”. Instead, the Bible refers to only Nineveh, Tyre, and Jerusalem as a “great city”.
Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
o Dan 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
o Dan 11:45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Finally, the imagery in Revelation 17 reinforces the argument that Jerusalem will be the capital city of the world. In Revelation 17:3 and 17:7 we find that the woman rides the beast, that is, the woman’s power is dependent on the support of the beast:
o Rev 17:3 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.
o Rev 17:7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
Jerusalem is this city because the Antichrist’s very own headquarters will be established in the city. It will be from the temple of Jerusalem where Antichrist will declare himself to be God.
o 2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
o 2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
The Two Witnesses
To counter the propagation of the New Age Religion, God will assign two individuals to provide testimony at the halfway point of the seventieth week of Daniel. The two individuals will provide their testimony until the end of the seventieth week of Daniel.
- Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
- Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
During the 1260 days these two individuals give their testimony they will essentially be invincible. Anyone who tries to harm them will die.
- Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
- Rev 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
The Identity of these Individuals
There has been debate among people in regards to the identity of these two individuals. There seems to be a consensus that the Prophet Elijah will be one of the two individuals. God promised in Malachi 4:5-6 that He will send Elijah to perform work before the coming of the Day of the Lord, or the Wrath of God.
- Mal 4:5 Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah.
- Mal 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, that I not come and strike the earth with utter destruction.
The heart of the debate rests with the identity of the second individual. Some people believe that the second individual will be Enoch because he was taken up to Heaven like Elijah was. However, the biblical evidence supports the identification of the second individual as Moses!
There are two passages that strongly support the identification of the second individual as Moses. First, Jude mentions that Satan and the Archangel Michael had a battle over the body of Moses.
- Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
The battle between Satan and Michael was over a physical body. This begs the question why would Satan want Moses’s physical body? Normally, a physical body ought to be no concern to Satan because it would decompose. However, in this case Satan wanted to prevent Michael’s attempt to gain custody over Moses body. It’s reasonable to conclude that there was a strong demand for Moses’s physical body because it is going to be used again when Moses returns to Earth as one of the Two Witnesses.
- Mat 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
- Mat 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
- Mat 17:3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah with a transfigured Jesus complies with description of the Two Witnesses standing before God in Revelation 11:4.
Whoever these individuals are they will serve on Earth during the most trying time in history. Be aware of what the forces of evil have planned so you do not fall prey to their false religion.
