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THE PUNISHMENT OF THE GREAT PROSTITUE AND THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON

The Punishment of the Great Prostitute and the Battle of Armageddon

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How the Beast Rises

Now that we have considered several parts of the story, let us take a moment and review the sequence of prophetic events that leads up to the establishment of Lucifer’s one-world-church-state (the image). Revelation 13:1 predicts that a beast will rise from the sea shortly after God’s judgments begin to fall. Although Revelation 13:1 does not say what causes the beast to rise from the sea, the Bible does address the identity, the timing and purpose of this beast. The beast that rises from the sea represents man’s organized response to the overwhelming death and destruction caused by the first four trumpet-judgments. The first four trumpet-judgments will destroy one-fourth of the world’s population and one-third of the world’s oceans, land mass and rivers. As a result, the inhabitants of this diverse planet will quickly find a united way to respond to God’s wrath.

The Bible states that the beast from the sea will have seven heads and ten horns, and it will exercise its authority for forty-two months. I call this a crisis government, a union of diverse churches and diverse states, that will form shortly after the judgments of God begin to fall. (Remember, the devil is not allowed to physically appear on Earth for approximately 890 days, so the one-world-church-state will be a later development.) At first, the crisis government will be a coalition of the world’s religious leaders who will agree and unite in a common cause to appease God. They will implore their respective governments to implement laws demanding repentance for sin and the worship of God, and fearful legislators will respond in unity. The seven heads represent the seven religions of the world: Atheism, Heathenism, Eastern Mysticism, Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism. The problem with this religious coalition is that each religious group views God’s will in a different way, resulting in a great deal of confusion about repentance and worship. This is why the beast is called Babylon – because the word “Babylon” means confusion.

The head that received the deadly wound (in 1798) represents the papacy, and the healing of this deadly wound indicates the pope will lead the world as chief spiritual advisor until the devil appears masquerading as God. After Lucifer appears, he will abolish all of the religions on Earth as quickly as possible because he will not tolerate diversity when “God” lives on Earth. After Lucifer convinces enough people that he is God, he will demand that an the image or likeness to the diverse sea beast be established. In other words, the devil will consolidate the religions and governments of the world into a one-world-church-state that does not have to deal with the confusion caused by man’s diversity. The book of Revelation gives Lucifer’s one-world-church-state three titles because each title amplifies the character and actions of his one-world-church-state. These three titles are: “the image to the beast,” “the great prostitute,” “the great city that rules over the kings of the Earth.”

We know that God permits the devil to physically appear to lead the world into destruction. There are several reasons why God permits the devil to abolish the religions of the world, but this is the one that I find most interesting. Revelation 13 and 17 indicate the seven heads (the seven religions of the world) are blasphemous in nature (Revelation 13:1; 17:3), signifying that they have usurped the prerogatives of God. The religions of Earth are offensive to God because all of them are false and arrogant. When false ideas about God are merged with man’s fallen nature, religious organizations become arrogant and unwilling to change. Somehow, most clergy view religious change as a sign of weakness when in reality, truth is ever unfolding.

Even worse, lay people typically exalt their religion as though it were God! Therefore, God permits the devil to eliminate the religions of the world, which will have the calculated effect of putting millions of people in a great predicament. If people cling to their old religion, which will be outlawed, the devil will kill them for rebellion. If they join the devil’s new religion, they will have to sell their soul to the devil in order to survive, even though they may disagree with the demands of the new religion! This conflict will open the minds of devoutly religious people, and for the first time, they will thoughtfully and intelligently consider the annoying testimony of the 144,000. I say, “annoying” because their testimony of Jesus Christ will stand in direct opposition to all the religions on Earth including Lucifer’s one-world-church-state!

Sixth Trumpet

When the appointed hour, day, month and year for the sixth trumpet-judgment arrives (Revelation 9:15), the devil will declare sovereign authority over all of Earth. This declaration will force everyone – on a single day – to take sides. People standing in opposition to his one-world-church-state will be targeted for destruction. (Revelation 13:15) The challenge on that day will be very simple. “Worship God or die.” The problem, of course, is that the being claiming to be God is the devil. The Bible indicates Lucifer will divide the population of Earth into groups of one thousand and his angels will kill one-third of mankind. The survivors of this global purge will be forced to wear one of two marks of the beast. The non-government survivors will wear a tattoo showing the number “666” on their right hand. The government workers will wear a tattoo on their foreheads indicating the name that the devil will use. (Revelation 13:16-18) These tattoos will serve as a non-transferable I.D. card and will be placed on the two-thirds of mankind who have joined Lucifer’s one-world-church-state. Now you know why the mark of the beast is a number: 666 are two-thirds of 1,000. Of course, the devil’s angels will be unable to locate and kill all of God’s saints, but they will destroy several hundred million of them during the fifth seal. (Revelation 6:9-11; 16:4-7; 17:6)

The seventh trumpet-judgment in Revelation 11:15-19 occurs on Sunday, the 1,264th day of the Great Tribulation. At that point, the inhabitants of Earth will have either the mark of the beast or the seal of God. Jesus’ final offer of salvation will have been terminated, and He will begin to avenge the suffering of His innocent saints by forcing the wicked to drink the bitter dregs of His wrath poured out of seven bowls – the seven last plagues. I believe the seven bowls will last about seventy days with each plague averaging ten days. These seven bowl-judgments, unlike the seven trumpet judgments, will fall upon the wicked without any mixture of mercy. The first four bowls will fall on people having the mark of the beast, and the last three bowls will include Lucifer and his angels.

The Fifth Bowl

“The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.” (Revelation 16:10,11)

The fifth-bowl judgment will turn everything upside down for the wicked. This plague falls upon the throne of the devil, and his administration of his one-world-church-state will be plunged into a dense darkness and a painful experience. Keep in mind there will be no electricity in those days. This darkness will be similar to the darkness that plagued Pharaoh. (Exodus 10:22,23) A plague of painful sores will also befall the devil, his kings and priests. This series of events turn everything upside down for the wicked because this plague unmasks the devil. The wicked will understand that the glorious being sitting on the throne is not Almighty God as he claimed. Too late, the wicked realize that they have been worshiping and obeying the devil because no one but a higher authority could impose this painful suffering and darkness on the devil’s throne and kingdom. The fifth bowl unmasks the devil by proving there is a higher power that is a sovereign power. (I find it ironic that the wicked discover this light while sitting in the dark.)

When the realization occurs, the one-world-church-state will immediately break down and implode because people who have the mark of the beast will learn that their God is no god after all. This is when the punishment of the great prostitute (the one-world-church-state) begins. The huge administration and one world government that Lucifer assembled will be filled with people loathing the one-world-church-state they built. The devil’s deception will be exposed and the wicked will be totally demoralized and disgusted. Every wicked person will remember how he sold his soul to the devil to survive. Every wicked person will recall what the 144,000 had said. The fifth plague will provide unmistakable evidence to the wicked that their doom is near. They will hate the one-world-church-state, they will loathe themselves, and the devil’s great government will implode.

Sixth Bowl – Twenty Days to Go

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.” (Revelation 16:12) The kings (plural) from the East are the Father and Son. They will appear together in clouds of glory at the Second Coming. (See Matthew 26:64 and Revelation 6: 16,17) they will come from the East because anything approaching our planet from space appears to come from the East because of our planet’s clockwise rotation.

The drying up of the river Euphrates takes a little explanation. God established the great river Euphrates as Israel’s northernmost boundary when He gave the land of Canaan to

Abraham. (Genesis 15:18)  This great river served as a natural barrier against invading forces from the North.  Because the great river Euphrates is fed by snowmelt from several mountains, the river overflows its banks from time to time, and the destruction left in the wake of this unstoppable flooding “in the north” became legendary.

God sometimes paralleled His wrath against Israel with the flooding of this great river Euphrates. (See Isaiah 8: 7,8 and Jeremiah 47:2). God also paralleled His wrath against Israel as coming out of the north. (Ezekiel 1:4; Jeremiah 1:14) To the ancient nation of Israel, “the flooding of the Euphrates” meant one thing: Oncoming and unstoppable destruction from the north. Once this ancient figure of speech is understood, the release of the four angels at the river Euphrates in the sixth trumpet becomes easier to understand. When the sixth trumpet-judgment occurs, an oncoming and unstoppable destruction will befall the whole world. In fact, the devil’s angels will kill one-third of mankind! (Revelation 9:15) It is interesting to notice that the sixth trumpet-judgment concerns the great river Euphrates and so does the sixth bowl-judgment. The drying up of the great river, to prepare the way for the kings from the East, means this: No barrier protecting mankind from God wrath is left. The kings from the East will cross “the river” without resistance. The kings from the East will be unstoppable and their global destruction will be swift and complete. (See Job 37:22.)

Three Frogs

“Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like grogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” (Revelation 16: 13,14) John saw three miracle working demons that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon (Lucifer), the beast (the sea beast with seven heads and ten horns, also called Babylon) and the false prophet (the devil’s personation of God). This language requires some explanation.

When Lucifer is permitted to appear before the people of Earth during the fifth trumpet-judgment, the devil will present himself as a glorious being of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) The devil and 200,000,000 of his angels (Revelation 9:16) will take on physical forms that humans will be able to touch and see. This concept can be difficult to understand at first because the devil and his angels will not be human beings. Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is through the use of a hand puppet. When a capable artist puts his hand inside a hand puppet, the artist can make the hand puppet appear to be alive even though everyone knows that it is the hand inside the hand puppet that is alive. When the fifth trumpet-judgment occurs, the glorious body masquerading, as God will be the hand puppet. This is important to know because Jesus will destroy the glorious bodies that Lucifer and his angels inhabit at the Second Coming. The devil and his angels will be returned to the spirit realm for 1,000 years. (Revelation 20:1-3)

Lucifer’s apparition is called a “false prophet” three times in the book of Revelation because Lucifer is a lair and he will lead the whole world astray with his lies. (Revelation 12:9) The devil will be able to deceive billions of people because they never loved the truth. Thus, the devil will earn the title, “false prophet.” Notice how the world will be tested during the Great Tribulation. Everyone will hear a call to obey God and exalt His truth. God’s true prophets will proclaim God’s Word. The wicked will hear God’s servants, but they will accept Lucifer’s lies, and unfortunately, most of the world’s clergy will unite with the false prophet! Surely, the whole world will stand in the valley of decision! “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; and the earth and the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.” (Joel 3:14-16)

We have already discussed how God will unmask the devil during the fifth bowl- judgment. Finally, the wicked will understand their great deception. The wicked will realize their stupidity as well as their impending doom because their protection (the one-world-church-state) turns out to be a great deception. The implosion of the great prostitute is represented as the drying up of the great river Euphrates. Now, that you understand this setting, consider the following: When the sixth-bowl judgment is poured out, the devil will acknowledge his clever deception and inform the wicked that his and their destruction is imminent. The wicked will have no place to turn. Everything they trusted in was either a lie or a calculated deception.

At that time, the devil will set out to achieve one last deception. (The devil does not give up.) He will send three miracle working demons throughout the world with the news that Jesus Christ is about to appear and that Jesus intends to destroy every wicked person. The devil will tell the wicked that they have no other option but to join with him in destroying Jesus as He nears Earth. The devil’s demons will work great miracles before the kings and rulers of Earth to convince them that they have a ghost of a chance at saving themselves.

Perhaps one of the reasons that John describes these three demons as frogs is found in Psalm 78:45: “He [God] sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.” Remember that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to convince Pharaoh that his God was as great as the God of the Hebrews because they could also call up frogs from the Nile River. (Exodus 8:7) However, this was the last deception that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to reproduce before their rebellious king. In other words, the imagery of demons as frogs in Revelation 16 parallels the last deception of Satan, and the devastation that follows for the kings and armies of Earth parallels the destruction of the king of Egypt and his soldiers. Because the three frogs (three demons) come out of the mouths of the dragon, beast and prophet, these demonically controlled entities are in perfect agreement with each other. They know their only remaining option is to destroy Jesus as He arrives. How low can evil minds sink? Who could think of actually entering into combat against Almighty God? Truly, the carnal heart is hostile toward God and His laws: The carnal heart would rather die than surrender to God’s authority and given half a chance, it would kill God.

“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.’ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:15,16)

Remember, the seven bowls will last for a period of seventy days; each plague will last for ten days. This means the 1,290th day (the date for the universal slaughter of the saints – Daniel 12:11) occurs during the third bowl-judgment. The devil will rally the wicked to kill every saint they can find. The good news surrounding this event is that (a) God responds to this evil tactic with a horrible plague for the wicked, and (b) the wicked will not be able to find or kill a single saint. (Daniel 12:1) Notice what happens to the wicked at this time: “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: ‘You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets [during the time of the seven trumpets], and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.’ And I heard the alter respond: ‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.’” (Revelation 16:4-7)

The sixth bowl-judgment (demonic deception) begins twenty-five days after the 1,290th day. At that time, the saints will be hiding in remote places, desperate for the appearing of Jesus, and they will be clinging to life through faith in Him. This is why Jesus speaks to the saints saying, ‘Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.’

Armageddon

John concludes the ten days of the sixth bowl-judgment saying, “Then they [the demons] gathered the kings together to the place that is in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:16, insertion mine) This text puzzled Bible students for almost 2,000 years, but I think the meaning is quite simple. The word har-meggiddon is mentioned once in the Bible, so a word study on “Armageddon” is not practical. To be accurate, har-megiddon is not a Hebrew word! However, in Old Testament times it is well known that the Hebrews would join words together to create names as circumstances warranted. For example, when God called Abraham to offer his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, the Lord intervened. The Lord cancelled the sacrifice of Isaac because He provided a ram that was caught in the thicket. Abraham named that place “Jehovahjireh” by putting two Hebrew words together. Jehovahjireh means “Jehovah will provide {the sacrifice]” or “Jehovah will see to it [that the sacrifice will be provided].” (Genesis 22:14)

The word Armageddon appears to be a combination of two Greek words: har and Megiddon. The Greek word har means mountain. The word Megiddon refers to a battlefield where kings Ahaziah ands Josiah died. (2 Kings 9:27; 23:30) The interesting thing about Josiah’s death is that he foolishly went against God’s command. He foolishly made war with Pharaoh Neco who was passing through the land, and Josiah was killed. (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:21,22) In other words, the association with Megiddo is that of a battlefield where kings die. The kings of the Earth will foolishly make war with Almighty God at the mountain of God and they will be destroyed. At the end of the battle, “the King of the mountain” will be Almighty God. The kings of Earth will perish. The wicked will be killed; the glorious but evil apparition of the devil and his angels will be consumed with fire and returned to their spirit realm. The battle of Armageddon occurs the last en days of Earth’s history.

“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ Then there came flashes of lightening, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city [the throne, the buildings and offices of Lucifer’s one-world-church-state] split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.” (Revelation 16:17-21)


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