Babylon the Great

Babylon Religion #1

Fred R. Coulter

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Where does China and Russia and all these other things fit in relationship to prophecy? It does look like it's happening really quickly. We've gone through how many times false alarms, return of Christ and all of this sort of thing. How does all of this fit in, because we're way past the time any of us thought it would be?

We hav some people who said that Christ was coming in 1997. I heard that the New Age Movement had it that they would have everything in the world under their control in 2004. I've heard of all kinds of different chronologies and different things.

Why doesn't it necessarily follow with the things that we've been told? The reason, I think, is that we have not given enough credit to God in how much He's going to let happen, nor have we understood how far God is going to let Satan go! Is there anyone who says that they can know that? No, we can't know that!

Here's something I was thinking of: the fall of Israel was in 718-721B.C.—2520 years. That's supposed to be the seven times punishment. You get that in two places. You get it in Lev. 26 and also Dan. 5 with the fall of Belshazzar. Subtract the 718 from the 2520 and you get 1802 and you add 1 year to it because there's no year zero, so you come out to 1803. Whenever you have these numbers, remember that you can go 1917/18 or 1918/19. In effect, you have a two-year sliding thing that it's awfully hard to put your finger on.

If we take the same thing with the fall of Judah, which the first invasion from Babylon was in 603-605B.C., somewhere right in there. So we'll just say 603-586B.C.—that brings us to 1917/18. We've understood that it means that when Israel, the ten tribes were taken out, they were under punishment for 2520 years to not have national power or the lack of national power and prominence. I think that that is generally a true statement.

The same way with Judah: in 1918, they got back part of the land, at least they were allowed to come back in greater numbers. It never really quite works though, because in 1948—30 years later—is when they got their nationhood for the Jews. That's 1948 and some have said 1988 is another 40 years or you can take 1919 plus 70 years. So, there are many different things you can do with figures and try and come up with things. They all don't somehow seem to work out!

However, there's 2520 coming to 1917/18, however you what to figure it, and the 2520 years coming to 1803. If you apply both of those—one to Israel and one to Judah—you come up with some reasonably accurate historical dates.

What about Babylon? Babylon the Great is going to be a fantastic thing. We'll get into some Scriptures in it in just a minute. If Babylon fell in 538B.C., then what if we do exactly the same thing that we did with Israel and Judah? There's some doubt; some say it was 536B.C.. or it was 540B.C.. There's a two year difference either way, a total of four years. If we take the 2520 years as the times of lack of power for Babylon and we subtract the 538, we come out to 1982.

What happened when Babylon was starting to rise as a power back during the time of Judah? There are so many different things involved in it. Israel was going down and Judah was going down.

I want to focus in on Babylon here. If Nebuchadnezzar came to power in 605B.C.—he's the one who came and conquered Judah—and his kingdom lasted until 538, which was the fall of it—then we have a total of 67 years. What does that tell us? I don't know! I'll be honest with you, other that the fact that we have 67 years.

If we come to the end-tine and we say that God gave power back to Israel through Ephraim and Manasseh after the 2520 years and God gave power back to Judah to be able to come into the 'promised land' and after another 30 years to be able to have their nation at the end of 2520 years, what's going to happen at the end of 2520 years for Babylon? A whole different system!

Could it be that what we're seeing now on the world scene is that we're seeing Babylon the Great all being formed? A bit here, a bit there, a little more added here and now all of a sudden we're getting all of this very rapidly coming together. What is that going to lead to? That's going to lead to Babylon the Great at the end-time!

This is where all of these different prophesies I have read that they can't answer. How long does it take for Babylon the Great to come to power? Don't know! Nebuchadnezzar's father Nabopolassar was 20 years coming to power. This gives us a total of 87 years: the 67 years from 605B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar took over to the demise of Babylon in 538B.C. That was for the first Babylon.

• How long has Babylon the Great at the end-time, been coming up in prominence?
• Could we have the start of it with the United Nations? I don't know! It's possible!

I'm not going to discount it and I'm not going to say absolutely. At the end of the 2520 years we come to a very interesting date, 1981/82, and the United States begins falling as an economic power.

Let's see an interesting statement by Jesus, which most of the Protestants have it totally wrong. Protestants say that the 'times of the Gentiles' actually began with the fall of Israel, but I think that there's an end-time 'times of the Gentiles,' which has to do with the rising of Babylon the Great into prominence and power. Of course, it doesn't happen all at once.

I don't know why we ever got into the mentality that all of this is going to happen in an instant, and all of a sudden one day the beast power is going to be there and we'll recognize him immediately. One day they'll haul us in to put on the mark of beast and we will immediately recognize that. Sometimes we've had this mentality: 'I'll watch out because I'll know when it comes.' Jesus said to watch, because you don't know when.

Luke's rendition of it is a little bit different than Matt. 24 and Mark 13.

Luke 21:8: "And He said, 'Beware that you be not deceived… [that will be an interesting study] …for many shall come in My name, saying, "I am Christ"; and, "The time has drawn near." Therefore, do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and revolutions…'" (vs 8-9)—upheavals, commotions, little Lebanons here, there and every place.

"…do not be terrified; for it is necessary that these things take place first, but the end will not come immediately'" (vs 8-9). When they translated it 'by and by' in the KJV they gave the meaning that it's an indeterminate amount of time that these things are going to be happening, not by and by.

Verse 10: "Then He said to them, 'Nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.'" We've seen all of that just going on. As long as I can remember in my lifetime that's been going on.

Verse 11: "There shall also be great earthquakes in different places and famines…" We have famines going on right now—Sudan, Ethiopia and several other places in the world.

"…and pestilences…" (v 11). Pestilence is sickness and disease. Of course, one of the most notorious that we have now is AIDS. They found out that some people can carry that AIDS virus undetected for up to four or five years, perhaps longer. Who knows? There are others. Now they're worrying about TB and we just look back at the reports we've covered on some of those things. What have we said? Watch out, this going to be a problem. Watch out, this is going to happen. Sure enough, they're happening.

"…and there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven" (v 11). I don't know what it means by 'great signs.' I think a lot of people laid a lot on Halley's comet coming in and they could hardly even see the thing. No great big deal. I don't know what great signs we're going to see from heaven. Can we say that the astronomers discovering great things that they see through their telescopes out there? That those are some of the signs? I don't know! I'm not going to say no, but I'm not going to say yes, because not all of us have a big telescope where we can run around and see the things going on in the heavens.

Verse 12: "'But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you and shall persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, and bringing you before kings and governors, for My name's sake.'"

That's not happening on a mass scale to anybody who gives a witness and testimony of Jesus. Sure, there are some who are going to jail here and there. Yes, there were two Mormon missionaries who were slaughtered. Whether they were really preaching the Gospel or not is another question. It's highly unlikely. We don't see that happening, yet.

Verse 13: "But it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle, therefore, in your hearts not to premeditate what you shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom that all those who are opposing you shall not be able to reply to nor resist. But you shall be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends…" (vs 13-16).

We see more and more of that happening. How do you solve the crime? You call in with an anonymous report! That's how it all starts. Then what happens? It starts happening against people who preach the Truth!

In Sweden they already have it. Will anti-hate laws make you a lawbreaker? It tells about a minister in Sweden who got up and said that homosexuality is wrong, an abomination and perversion before God. He got arrested and was thrown in jail. There is a case. It's not happening very broadly in the society, but it'll happen here. You wait and see, it'll happen sooner or later. We're not at the point that all of this is going on, but believe me, when it comes to the point when all of this is going on down to the last detail, you better be careful because it may be too far into it.

Verse 17: "And you shall be hated by all because of My name…. [that's true; everybody hates Christians anymore] …But not a hair of your head shall by any means perish. By your patient endurance you shall gain your lives. But when you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, then know that her desolation has drawn near" (vs 17-20).

There have been armies around Palestine, if you could put it that way or the area what is called Israel today, for an awful long time. What does it mean, 'surrounding Jerusalem? How close do the armies have to be? It doesn't tell us!

Verse 21: "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains…" In other words, they are invading. They've encircled and they are invading. You don't want to see the invading armies before you decide the Tribulation has begun.

"…and let those within her go out, and let not those in the countries come into her; for these are the days of vengeance, so that all things that have been written may be accomplished. But woe to those who are with child and those who are giving suck in those days! For there shall be great distress upon the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled'" (vs 21-24). Does this tell us when the times of the Gentiles begin? No!

How long does it take for the times of the Gentiles? That's my basic question which I'm going to try and answer and get back to this China thing. How long are the times of the Gentiles at the end?

When did it start? We could look at a couple of dates. You can do wonderful things with figures but don't set your heart on any of them. Did the times of the Gentiles start in a small way with the United Nations? When did the United nations begin? 1945[transcriber's correction]! One of the first things that they did was make Israel a nation.

Let's just do a little playing around with some figures, but don't put any hopes on it. Let's just take the 67 years plus the 20, so we will add 87 years to 1947. We come up with the year 2034. {transcriber's note: using 1945+87=2032} Is that how long the times of the Gentiles at the end are going to be? Is it going to equal what Babylon was in the beginning? I don't know!

If you take just the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, because he was the head of gold—605-562B.C.; that's 43 years altogether. Is the end-time, times of the Gentiles going to be 43 years. If it is where does it start? I don't know!

Let's just take another little figure. If our 1981/82 date is correct and we add 43 years to it, we have 2024/5. You've got 10 years difference between the two. I'm doing this just as you are as we're going along here. I'm kind of thinking out loud. Sometimes if you ask a lot of questions, then you may know which is the right one to ask, because you don't know. Now, we know that at the endom Dan. 9 that we have 7 ears at the end in which 3½ will be what the Bible calls the great Tribulation.

How long does it take to build things up to where the Beast Power is going to take over? I don't know! Let's come back to the original question: What is going to happen, because of the events in China and in Russia? How is that going to fit in with what we're doing here in the way of trying to understand prophecy? Some of these things are happening really fast.

It's interesting that they have the Chinese Statue of Liberty now and I don't know how that's going to fit in, but it's interesting that it's a woman—the Goddess of Freedom, the Goddess of Democracy—there are a lot of different things you could have in there.

I remember the first time I read Alexander Hislop's interpretation of the image of the beast when he said it was going to be the statue of Mary. I kind of scoffed at it, but I'm not too willing to scoff at it too much now, when you hear Protestant ministers standing up there in some pulpits praying to the 'goddess mother of us all.' Just exactly how these things are going to work out will be interesting.

During Geo. H.W. Bush's trip to Europe  the United States has decided to focus in on having Germany be the leader instead of Great Britain being the leader. That's why they had the very frank talks at No. 10 Downing Street, I guess. So, who knows what's going to happen there. I think it's very interesting that a lot of these events are taking place.

Let's go to another principle here in the book of Revelation, which has to do with the beast. I want to expand that just a little bit in our thinking. Rev. 17 is talking about the beast, it's talking about the powers, and I think to answer the question:

• What is happening in all these nations?
• Is God doing this?
• Is God stirring up the Chinese to have democracy?

We know it can't happen unless God knows that it's going to happen; that we know! Nothing happens that God doesn't know! I would have to say that to fulfill the end-time prophecies, my basic answer would be, yes. Not only there but also in the Soviet Union.

I remember reading in the Catholic prophecies that in the end-time Russia would be converted. I thought, when I read that years ago. 'Aw! Pooh-pooh! Never happen!' Today {at the giving of this sermon} I would say that's the only way the communists are going to save their power. They are dead men. They are through.

Revelation 17:17: "For God has put into their hearts to do His will… [whatever a prophecy of God is, it's His will] …and to act with one accord, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God have been fulfilled." I think that has directly to do with the ten, obviously, but could this also apply to many of the other nations? Why could it not apply to many of the other nations?

We've covered this before about the beast and the power of the beast; Revelation 13:7: "And he was given power to make war against the saints…" That's the ultimate thing that's going to happen. Of course, there is war against Christianity right now, any form of it. It's not where they're shooting, stabbing and killing, yet, but it could be in a very short period of time.

"…and to overcome them; and he was given authority over every tribe and language and nation" (v 7). When we look at the cycle of history, when do you have a dictator take over? In chaos when democracy has failed! Could it be that all this move toward democracy is going to free up all of these nations?

We need to think beyond just the one statement. What if this move to get all of these nations under democracy leads to a greater United Nations control? Obviously, no one, no one, no one, is going to want a dictator now. What is the cry today? The age of the dictator is over! Mr. Gorbachev tear down the wall!

The Chinese can't even get their own people under control. The citizens of Beijing run out there and stop the army. Unheard of! It's amazing! It also leads to greater economic performance and riches and things like that. Does that also fit in with Babylon the Great at the end-time? Yes! It's a great merchandising thing. What is the enticement to the Soviet Union and China? Come and join the community of nations, and join the economics of the world global economy and have it so that your people are free!

What I think we're seeing here is that many times we look at some things and we say, 'One cancels out the other.' How about if we add them all up together?

• There will be a form of democracy
• There will be a form of peace
• there will be prosperity

I can tell you right now, knowing enough about economics, that the Japanese are not about ready to sell all of the U.S. Treasury Certificates that they have and the Unites States is not about ready to do in Japan so they won't buy them. As long as that exists, there's going to not be a collapse. What they're trying to do is to get the whole global economy up and running good enough so there won't be a collapse. Eventually, it's going to come. So:

• we have prosperity
• we have peace
• we have democracy

All of these things are happening just like a rapid whirlwind thing. At the same time, what do we see? We see an unprecedented statement by George Bush #1 saying that 'we are making history to help have a free and democratic Europe.'

What's came in 1992? The United States of Europe! I saw that on an economic report Who are we asking to be the leader of this? Germany! Let's look a little bit more at Europe. We've got the 1992 date for them to have their Economic Trading Combine—the EU—virtually one nation like the United States:

• you can come and go
• you don't have to have passports
• they will have a single currency—the Euro

Dollars are the dollars that the United States printed after WWII to fuel the Marshal Plan in foreign aid. All they did was just print dollars and ship them over to the banks over there and they used that for cash reserve. Those are what are called the Euro dollars, they're not backed by anything. It's the EU, the European Union.

At the same time this is happening, Britain is asked to back away. Also, Thatcher was not willing to give up sovereignty to join. What else is happening? One of the leaders from Estonia, who was elected to the new Congress, got up and read the protocol of the secret Nazi-Soviet agreement of 1939 which gave the Soviet Union control of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia!

How are the Soviets going to be able to honor that when it was made with their archenemy? I see those countries coming out from underneath the Soviet control. If Gorbachev is apologizing, you know that he's only doing it to keep power and because once the people have tasted freedom, you aren't going to take it away, right then. You've got to give it to them. Later you can take it away in extraordinary circumstances, but not right now.

All of Europe came together, and all of the so-called Eastern European countries came out from underneath the dominance of the Soviet Union. Here is this huge conglomerate of nations together as one, but they're not one because they're divided.
Let's read a little bit about this end-time kingdom. Of course, we have to understand something very completely on this. That is that the whole image from head to toe are variations of the same system.

Daniel 2:38: "…You are this head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and beats down all things, and as the iron that crushes all these, shall it break in pieces and crush. And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters' clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided…." (vs 38-41). Yet, at the same time, as long as iron and clay stay together it is united.

"…But there shall be in it the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken" (vs 41-42).

Isn't that exactly what happed in Europe? All of these little weak nations joined it!

Verse 43: "And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mix themselves with the seed of men. But they shall not cling to one another, even as iron does not combine with clay." But they shall mix long enough to stick together; they shall stay long enough to get together.

Every time I see things about Iran and Lebanon raging in the streets, wherever it is, I think of:

Psalm 2:1: "Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Christ, saying, 'Let us break Their bands asunder and cast away Their cords from us.'" (vs 1-3).

In other words, independent from any control of God; that's what democracy is. You can be what you want to be. That's what self-esteem is. Love yourself more than anything in the world. Forget God! Forget your neighbor! Just love yourself!

Verse 4: "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and in His fury He terrifies them. 'Yea, I have set My king upon Zion, My Holy mountain.' 'I will declare the decree of the LORD. He has said to Me, "You are My Son; this day I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel"'" (vs 4-9).

Tie that in with Dan. 2 of the 'stone that was cut out without hands' which smote the image on its feet and it fell; 'dash them to powder.' I think we sort of combined Psa. 2 and Dan. 2 and we're coming to this great, huge Babylon that is going to be—as far as men can see in its effects because of the brilliance and power of Satan behind it—really dazzling. I think, really dazzling. I think we're past the foundation stage for the great Babylon at the end. We don't know how great it is going to be. We don't know. That's the thing that is so important.

They now have a way of gene transplanting that is simple. You just merely: you take the characteristics you want and let it soak in sperm. The sperm absorbs the characteristics that you want and Voilà! you have impregnation of the egg, be it an animal or be it a human, and you get what you want. You have then permanently changed the species, and these genes become part of the next generation's offspring. You do not need any great scientific thing to do it. You do not need needles, microscopes and all of this sort of thing. You just don't need it.

Where will this lead to? I don't know, but I'm sure it's not going to stop! I'm sure it's going to lead to every abominable thing that man can do. Of course, initially it's for good. Everything that Satan does, initially is for good. 'Listen, Eve, you eat this, you'll have a benefit; it's for your good and you'll be wise.' That's the way Satan starts out. It'll be for your good. Think of all of the diseases we can stop. Never ask, 'Why did they start?'

Hitler had a fling at this very same thing. Why? Because he was obviously inspired of Satan! Same thing! Who knows, if there is enough time maybe we will end up with what you might call the 'super race!'

I've said it. I've said, 'The beast must be alive somewhere on the earth. What if he isn't, yet? What if the beast has not yet been created? What if he's really a child of the devil? Not from Rosemary's Baby type of thing, but I mean from this type of genetic engineering where you truly have a Satan-inspired and cause to be born super human being.

That may sound a little heretical to some people who want the Lord to come tomorrow, but wouldn't human beings be absolutely fantastically enthralled with this human being. Let's go a couple of steps further. Let's put a couple of computer chips into him. Let's go another step further and let's have some renegade almost kill this marvelous man, but he miraculously survives and is brought back to life. Maybe I'm talking too much science fiction but I don't think so.

Again, how many times have we gone back to Gen. 11 to the one sentence that says, 'And now this they begin to do and nothing that they imagine to do will be restrained from them.' Would God let them change kind after kind? I think He would! The only thing that God will not allow is the physical destruction of the earth. They're already doing it with some of these cancer-fighting drugs that they have. They're already taking genes from plants and mixing it with human genes so that you can kill certain forms of cancer.

You have to stop and think now. How many times have we looked at these things, so-called mythology of the past? These half-man half beast type of creatures? We said it was the figment of the imagination! Was it? We don't know!

(go to the next track)

Christ isn't here, yet. All we're trying to do is understand what we're doing, living in the end-time. These things are absolutely weird, but it's possible.

Those who discovered it were in Switzerland with very German sounding names. There's one in Bavaria, right close to Austria. All you do is just transfer that over to the nice, safe, areas of Switzerland. Who knows what they're going to come up with. You think of all of these fabulous things that we've heard of, that we've read of, and start adding that all up together and it's mind-boggling. I think that if you combine Dan. 2 and Psa. 2, we're right in the middle of it now.

There's a book where they actually have completely reconstructed the Gate of Ishtar in the city of ancient Babylon. They have completely reconstructed it and it looks like it was, as close as they can get it, in it's original form. Could it be that we're going to have the city Babylon rebuilt in defiance of God, and we're going to have the whole world system as Babylon? You have both. Not one against the other, but you have both.

Revelation 18:1: "And after these things I saw an angel descending from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the Great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird; because all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication…'" (vs 1-3). Isn't it interesting that the statue was not of a man, an ape, a cow or a goat, it was a statue of a woman!

It says, "…all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication…" I think that we're going to have to get every nation on earth involved. Every nation on earth is somehow going to be involved in this whole entire system.

I don't know how many of you saw the report, I saw just the tail end of it, it was entitled, The Crossing Over. It was a narration on the Aborigines in Australia and how they are 'crossing over' and leaving behind all their ancient primitive, things that they have. There are just a very few people trying to preserve some of the things of the ancient Aborigines. I thought to myself, another one of these nations being brought into the modern system.

"…all nations have drunk of the wine of the fury of her fornication…" Don't we have that now? All nations are talking about this:

• world economic thing
• the world global thing
• world peace

It has to look so good that even the elect may be deceived!

"…and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her…" (v 3). I'm sure it's more than just the Catholic Church, but the Catholic Church has got to be a principle player in the whole thing. It absolutely must be. Of course, who did George Bush go see? The pope! What did they talk about?

• I'm sure they didn't talk about how to win at checkers
• I'm sure they talked about world, global events
• I'm sure that the pope was asking him, 'Do all you can to free the people in Eastern Europe and thank you George for going over there in Poland before the election'

Remember? George Bush #1 went over there and they got all the footage of his helping out the Polish people. What has happened? A complete turn around in Poland and in Hungary! What are they doing in Hungary? They're tearing down the Iron Curtain between the border of Austria and Hungary!

Ronald Reagan went and said, 'Gorbachev, tear down the wall.' George Bush went there and said, 'Tear down the wall. Join the community of nations. Share in the economic benefits.' These things just jump out at you when you listen to what's going on, it's something!

"…and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her luxury" (v 3). We're talking about multi-billion dollar corporations. It is unbelievable the amount of wealth. Compared to some of these corporations and people, we are just almost poverty-stricken.

Verse 4: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, My people, so that you do not take part in her sins, and that you do not receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached as far as heaven… [it's going to be stacked higher and deeper] …and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she has rendered to you; and give to her double, even according to her works. In the cup that she mixed, give her back double. To the degree that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously…'" (vs 4-7).

What's going to happen? Let's go back and think of this German thing just a little bit. What's going to happen when the Germans get back in the fulcrum of power again? They'll go by America like a rabbit shot out of a gun compared to a tortoise! It is going to be something when it happens! They're already challenging us on a lot of things.

"…give to her as much torment and sorrow. For she says in her heart, 'I sit a queen enthroned, and am not a widow; and in no way shall I experience sorrow'" (v 7). You say that when it looks like you've lost all your children, but you haven't. That exactly what's happening in Europe today.

When this all opens up, this going to be a huge Catholic, and also Protestant, but mostly Catholic, thing that is taking place in Europe. Look at the nations there:

• Spain is Catholic
• Portugal is Catholic
• France is Catholic
• Luxemburg is Catholic
• Belgium is Catholic
• Holland is combination Catholic/Protestant
• Denmark is kind of neither/nor
• Germany's 50% Catholic, 50% Protestant
• Austria is Catholic
• Switzerland is Protestant and Catholic
• Italy is Catholic
• Greece is Orthodox—it's not much difference, six of one and half a dozen of another
• Romania is Catholic
• Bulgaria is Catholic
• Hungary is Catholic
• Czechoslovakia is Catholic with a little Protestant
• Poland is 99.999% Catholic
• Lithuania is Lutheran
• Brazil is Catholic, and all of South America

They're Catholic but it's really interesting that none of them have ever been converted, none of the natives. When the Catholics came in and they accepted it so they wouldn't die, but they still worshipped their gods and all this sot of thing on the side. So, they're quite as good Catholics as they're made out to be.

Could you believe that China may be converted to Catholicism? Who knows? Catholicism is a great force in China right now. Is this crackdown going to force it to come on faster? I think so! What causes a boomerang response? Look what happened with the American colonies and the taxes! It finally got to the point and that was it no more. The communist countries have so oppressed their citizens that the people are saying, 'No more! No more!' It's going to have the opposite effect. It's going to come on. Yes, it's going to happen, because God is going to put it in their hearts to fulfill His will.

Verse 9: "Then the kings of the earth who have committed fornication with her and have lived luxuriously, will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning. They will stand far off for fear of her torment, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come'" (vs 9-10).

Let's look at the king of Assyria; Isaiah 10:5: "Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger! And the staff in their hand is My fury. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath. I will command him to take the plunder, and to strip off the spoil, and to trample them like mud in the streets" (vs 5-6).

As this really gets going, somewhere along the line Israel has got to be invaded. We're going to be so infiltrated from within that it's going to be an unbelievable thing when it takes place.

We also have the situation, 'What are you going to do with Jerusalem?' That's the thorn in the flesh. No one can solve it, yet. That's what's going to bring on the popularity of the beast. He'll be able to solve it temporarily.

Verse 7: "Yet, he does not plan this, nor does his heart think so, for it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few." This means the probably it's going to start out with a lot of peace and then end up like Rev. 13.

Verse 8: "For he says, 'Are not my commanders all like kings? Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus? As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols—and their graven images are greater than Jerusalem's and Samaria's—shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her idols?' Therefore, it shall come to pass, when the LORD has finished all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, 'I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and for the haughty look in his eyes.' For he says, 'By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am wise. And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have plundered their treasures, and I have put down the people like a strong man. And my hand has found the riches of the people as a nest…'" (vs 8-14).

Let's tie that in with Dan. 4. We're talking about the fall of the beast in relationship to the fall of Nebuchadnezzar, who was in type, when he was given the mind of a beast. Here's what happened. Notice how similar the wording is:

Daniel 4:28: "All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spoke and said, 'Is this not great Babylon that I have built for a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'" (vs 28-30). It sounds just like the Assyrian, the same spirit, the same attitude.

So, we have the Beast Power at the end. He's going to come in and he's going to say, 'I am God!' He'll sit in the temple of God and be worshipped as God. When you read that and you think about maybe there's going to be a special satanic creation of a man who's going to really be a super, super, super man and then be possessed of Satan. Incredible! That's going to be something!

You know what happened. Here's what you might say is an earnest of the fall of Babylon, right here. Nebuchadnezzar went insane:

Verse 31: "While the word was yet in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven, saying, 'O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you. And you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you… [seven years] …until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to whomever He wills'" (vs 31-32).

I think that helps answer our question, 'Is God doing this that's happening in these different nations?' I would say, 'Absolutely, yes!' Yes, He is. Who is He using to do it? He's using the angels and He's using the watchers!

Verse 16: "Let his heart be changed from a man's and a beast's heart be given to him. And let seven times pass over him. This matter is by the decree of the watchers… [Who are they watching for? God!] …and the demand by the word of the Holy ones… [I'm sure that has to do with the angels of God] …so that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He will, and sets up over it the basest of men" (vs 16-17).

I think we're seeing that happen right before our very eyes in a very, very fast way. It's going to get so good that the whole world is going to be deceived. What are you going to do when there are benefits that come to you because of what's going on in the world? They'll come! They're bound to come! You can't avoid it!

Let's look at Argentina; we were saying how wonderful that they now have a democratic government. Peace has come to Argentina. The death squads have stopped. The kidnaps have stopped. They're prosecuting some of the army officers who did it. What do they have today in Argentina?:

• rampant inflation
• rioting
• killing
• looting
• stealing

What are they going to need? A dictator, because democracy failed! I think it'll be subject to failure in situations like that to accelerate a whole lot faster than other places. It's a miracle that it's endured in the United States. I think the only reason is because God has upheld it, not because we're anything great, not because we have such a good system. It's gone on in spite of all:

• the sins of the Presidents
• the sleaze
• the stealing
• the taxes
• the deficit

Woe when that hand is taken away! The attraction is, 'Well it's far better than what we have right now. After all, if we can all be like the United States'

Let's read an interesting thing in Gen. 48. This is when the blessing came to Ephraim and Manasseh and when Jacob was crossing his hands and blessing the sons and. When Jacob refused to change hands from the firstborn Manasseh, and gave the firstborn blessing to Ephraim.

Genesis 48:19: "And his father refused and said, 'I know it, my son, I know it. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.' And he blessed them that day, saying, 'In you shall Israel bless, saying, "God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh…"'" (vs 19-20).

That's what the whole world wants today. They want to be like Ephraim and Manasseh with all the blessings, with all the wealth and everything that God had promised to Ephraim and Manasseh. That's what people are striving for.

It's because of the promises of God; God will fulfill it! Not because the people are great, not because they deserve it, or have earned it, or have worked for it, but because God said so! In many cases, a lot of the other nations are really right when they look at America and Britain and say, 'How come you have all of this when you're like that? It's not fair.' They look at that and they think it's because of our democracy.

There again, we have a classical thing, as we talked about with church structure. The structure of government does not change the nature of people! It cannot! It can change the nature of politics, but it can't change the nature of people.

I never will forget, for example, when I was in history class with Dr. Hoeh at Ambassador College. He started reading out of this book. He says, 'I want to read to you about this Russian system.' He started reading about:

• the spies
• the police
• that the farmers and workers were oppressed
• those who were in power lived in glory and splendor
• all of the spying and things that went on

He said, 'Tell me what was the period of history that this occurred?' Everyone said, 'When the communists took over.' He said, 'No, this talking about the government of the Czars, 100 years before the communists took over. He said that 'the reason I'm reading it is so that you can understand that the governmental system does not change the nature of the people.'

What you're saying on the democracy is that, it will work for a while with them, but it doesn't change the nature of the people and they're going to go back, sooner or later, to their old ways. Maybe some of the people can get out from underneath the oppression of the Russians, but it's the same way with the Assyrian. He doesn't think it's in his heart to be a destroyer. No, he's a builder, but who started the two world wars?

There are so many different things in prophecy that we need to look to. I think that what's going on is just going to fulfill the whole situation with the coming of Babylon the Great. The Germans feel themselves as the saviors of the world. They will much more feel that way when the pope comes and commissions them to help save the world. Now, they will really have a calling, a 'sacred and holy' calling. Not Nazism, this time folks. No! Blessings of the pope 'direct from God.' That will be dynamite stuff—won't it?

What's going to happen when Germany is united?—which it will be! The reason they're so worried about it is because the East Germans will come and take away the jobs from the West Germans. The West Germans are going to go in and help set up the East Germans. The West is going to come to the East. That's the whole thrust of this perestroika and glasnost. I don't think it's just the Russians who are doing it. I think the United States is in on it and Europe is in on that and doing it.

I don't know if you remember, but if you do, right after Gorbachev got in, there was a meeting in Russia with Gorbachev of at least seven or eight former ambassadors or Secretaries of State of the United States, who went to the Soviet Union. There was Henry Kissinger, Averell Harriman, Gene Kilpatrick, Cyrus Vance and Rockefeller. Right after that started perestroika and glasnost. It makes you wonder what went on. All of this has come out since then. Now, Rockefeller's 'fair haired' boy George H. W. Bush is President and he's coming out smelling like a rose.

A lot of these conspiracy people say, 'All we need to do is stop the Rockefellers and stop this and stop that.' Nonsense! You aren't going to stop that. You're not going to stop Satan from doing what he's going to do nor are you going to stop God from having it done to fulfill the prophecies. It's going to be done. Get out of God's way!

Someone misunderstood me one time when they were talking about the New Age movement and the coming New Age thing that's happening. I said, 'It's going to be just like God told the Jews. You stick your neck under the yolk and you go into captivity as I said you're going to go and you'll live, or if you stay here, you're going to die. I'm going to do My will.'

The whole point of it was that God is going to carry out His will, not that we should submit to the New Age thing at all. The New Age thing is coming, and there isn't going to be a thing that anybody's going to do to stop it—period! That's part of the prophecies that are going to be here. We need to stop it in our own individual lives. The buck stops here, kind of thing! Yes, we need to not be caught up in it. There isn't anyone going to stop it.

Tell me, of all the people who have been against the New Age thing, have they stopped one minute of it? Nope!

All Scripture from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Luke 21:8-24
• Revelation 17:17
• Revelation 13:7
• Daniel 2:38-43
• Psalm 2:1-9
• Revelation 18:1-7, 9-10
• Isaiah 10:5-14
• Daniel 4:28-32, 16-17
• Genesis 48:19-20

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Leviticus 26
• Daniel 5
• Matthew 24
• Mark 13
• Daniel 9
• Genesis 11

FRC: nfs
Transcribed: 07-27-16
Proofed: 8/12/16