CHAPTER 17 BABYLON: THE FALSE CHURCH SYSTEM….A MO LETTER
- “The seven heads (of the Beast) are seven mountains.” MOUNTAINS REPRESENT GREAT WORLD KINGDOMS. The ancient kingdom of Babylon during her world reign was called “the destroying mountain” (Jeremiah 51:24,25) and prophecy referring to Christ’s earthly kingdom during the Millennium calls it “the mountain of the Lord’s house.” (Isa.2:2)
- THESE SEVEN MOUNTAINS, THEN, ARE THE SEVEN MAJOR WORLD POWERS THROUGH WHICH THE BEAST HAS MANIFESTED HIMSELF and through which the Whore, by sitting on top, a ruling position, has controlled the world.
- “And there are seven kings: five are fallen.” AT THE TIME WHEN THIS PROPHECY WAS GIVEN, 90 A.D., FIVE OF THE SEVEN MAJOR WORLD POWERS HAD FALLEN:
1) Egypt,
2) Assyria,
3) Babylon,
4) Medo-Persia, and
5) Greece.
“And one is“: Rome was in power at the time of the prophecy and was the sixth. “And the other is not yet come“: This is the final government of the Antichrist, the seventh. “And when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” (17:10) This is the short reign of the Antichrist world government, only seven years according to Daniel 9:27. (See our class “Daniel 9”, No.348.)
- “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” (17:11) The Beast himself is of all seven empires since he bears them up. But what it means by saying the Beast is the eighth is a bit difficult to understand. It seems to indicate that ALL SEVEN EMPIRES WILL COME AND GO AND THE BEAST WILL BE THE EIGHTH EMPIRE just before its `perdition’, or destruction.
- The only thing I can think that this could possibly mean is that maybe before the Great Tribulation, before the Abomination of Desolation, the seventh empire is not yet really the Antichrist empire because its leader hasn’t been fully possessed by the Devil.
MB: Now I believe we are past this point. I believe Putin is already possessed. That’s what Xi and Modi and all these BRICS+ nations are seeing. They are seeing something in him that wasn’t there before. They are each in their own little world. They don’t see what is emerging; they don’t know they are about to join hands with the Devil himself. I’m not sure they would care even if they were aware of what is coming down.
- Though he is the head, or `king’, of the seventh world government, he hasn’t become the Antichrist. But AT THE POINT OF THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION(in the very middle of the last seven years, leaving 3-1/2 years to go) HE IS FULLY POSSESSED OF THE DEVIL and he becomes a new man, the Antichrist, with a new government, totally of the Devil.
MB: The advantage we have is that we know by revelation that the world has passed the three-and-a-half year mark. Therefore we know whom we are dealing with in Putin.
ALTHOUGH IT WOULD BE THE VERY SAME HEAD, SEVENTH HEAD, IT WOULD NOW ALSO BECOME THE EIGHTH, AND A NEW GOVERNMENT.
- The seventh head, however, is already here(though not yet in full power), and it is WORLD COMMUNISM which is already on the march and is already conquering the world. AS THE SEVENTH HEAD, IT WILL BE THE BASIS OF THE ANTICHRIST GOVERNMENT, ’cause it has ALL the attributes of that government which are described in both Revelation and Daniel; no other government ever has.
- The Beast is RED, so is Communism (the Red Flag, Red Army, the Reds, Red Square, etc.). The MOST POWERFUL AND THOROUGH DICTATORS the world has ever seen have been Communists (Stalin, Mao), and the Beast is going to be headed up by the greatest dictator of all history. The Antichrist will COMPLETELY ABOLISH EVERY AND ALL FORMS OF TRADITIONAL WORSHIP–only Communism has tried to do this. The Beast will DESTROY THE WHORE–the false religions of man including Capitalism, which Communism is now working at. It is going to RULE THE “ENTIRE EARTH“: the goal of Communism which they are fast accomplishing. MB: And according to what we are seeing and that has been revealed to us, there really is no time left for it to be another fall and rise of Russia or another Putin type character to come on the scene.
- Finally, in its pursuit of destroying all false religions, the prophecies predict that THE BEAST WILL ALSO TRY TO STAMP OUT THE TRUE CHURCH, which the Reds have tried to do in countries they have conquered. So if Communism is not the seventh head, then we will have to wait till it passes and another government with exactly the same attributes arises to take its place–which I doubt will happen since there’s not enough time! MB: Yes, we agree; it is highly unlikely, especially when you consider all the signs and indications Jesus has been giving us since 2020. The Philly Church burned the books, thus bringing on the Last Days.
- “AND THE TEN HORNS WHICH THOU SAWEST ARE TEN KINGS, WHICH HAVE RECEIVED NO KINGDOM AS YET; BUT RECEIVE POWER AS KINGS ONE HOUR WITH THE BEAST.” (17:12) Since they had received “no kingdom as yet” in 90 A.D., they couldn’t have been on any of the first six heads. So they must be on the seventh, and if they are, then these ten kingdoms must definitely be here today. MB: Yes, they must be.
- In his predictions of these ten Endtime kingdoms, the Prophet Daniel said A LITTLE HORN, OR ELEVENTH HORN, RISING AFTER THE TEN HORNS,WILL PLUCK UP THREE OF THEM BY THE ROOTS, THUS TAKING ALL OF THEM OVER. MB: I had a question about the little horn rising after the ten horns. At first glance I thought that Russia is a very old empire. It didn’t rise after the 10 BRICS kings. However, I realized that the little horn isn’t a kingdom as Russia is. The little horn is a king, and of course Putin rose to power after the the 10 kings were already in power.
- THE CONQUEST OF THE THREE HORNS OR KINGDOMS DOESN’T MEAN THEY NO LONGER EXIST AS SEPARATE KINGDOMS, MB: This is exactly what I think John or Thomas was saying the other day about the word “subdued”. The word subdued doesn’t mean destroyed.
- After the conquest of these three horns and the establishing of Communist governments within their countries, they could indeed, as it says here in the next verse, “GIVE their power and strength unto the Beast” (17:13), UNITING WITH THE BEAST TO FORM THE NUCLEUS OF THE ANTICHRIST KINGDOM. Who ever these ten kingdoms are, though, will become clearer within the next few years. MB: Well, the purpose of this class is to try and convince you that the “next few years” has arrived. The nucleus of the AC kingdom has been or is right now being formed.
MB: And that is why it is difficult for many people we know to accept this new idea that BRICS are the 10 kings spoken of in the 17th Chapter of Revelation. However, as Dad said earlier about the Egyptian Empire; “to be considered a World power or an Empire you have to rule other countries besides your own. You have to dominate other lands & other countries besides your own.” So Egypt was the first world power, and Egypt was conquered by Assyria, thus making Egypt part of the new world empire. Then Assyria fell to Babylon and Babylon to the Medes and Persians. These are the bear who held the three former empires as ribs in its teeth (Daniel 7:5) That word picture symbolizes assimilation. In succession each world empire falls to the next; until we get to Rome, the sixth. Rome, again through the process of assimilation, controlled a huge empire that included all of Europe. In time, Rome in her turn, falls, but not at the hand of another more dominate power. It is not yet time for the 7th and final empire to rise. Instead what happens is –over time those countries that were subdued by Rome became, not world empires, but “super powers” Spain, Portugal, England, in their day colonized the rest of the known world. Therefore we could say, indirectly, the old Roman empire has spread itself around the world, thus making the BRICS nations, –not all mind you– part of the sixth, Rome.
And I wonder —as John suggested– if the 3 horns that are subdued by the little horn are those countries that weren’t dominated at one time by a colonial power. For example, China and Saudi Arabia, as far as I know, weren’t.
Now this is where it gets a bit tricky and confusing.
A relatively new power comes on to the scene, the USA, two hundred years ago. Always remember though, that all world powers are controlled by the great eye, Satan. The cabals and elites, or internationalists, sit under the eye, and if we are to believe John Todd’s rendition, we see, under them, all the different blocks of power that make up the rest of the pyramid of power, but all under the great eye.
In 1917, Russian Communism rises to power and challenges the dominate Old Roman empire countries and the USA. Prophetically speaking, Communism seems to fulfill many of the verses concerning the Antichrist beast. Throughout history, Satan has been slowly perfecting the way he operates, and finally comes up with the plan that most closely resembles God’s operating system. As we read in “War and Peace”, Communism looks a lot like Christianity, but is missing the main component, love.
Dad says that the old Roman empire was brought back to life through the rise of these different super powers and their colonies, and they now constitute the seventh beast. We’ve also said before that the fall of Russia during the 90’s and its subsequent rise after the year 2000 could be another fulfillment of Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
What John and Thomas said in their letters is very interesting. John was saying that China and Saudi Arabia were countries that need to be subdued. He wasn’t sure of the third. Thomas said that China could possibly be the lamb with two horns that speaks like a dragon. Revelation 13:11. Many of the countries of the world were colonized or subdued by the European and US superpowers, but not all. Within the BRICS+ nations, China, Russia and a few others were not. Perhaps by looking at the other BRICS nations, you might find who the third is. That’s just a thought. Here is a thought about Iran. The Shah of Iran was trying to modernize Iran, but was ousted by the religionists. They didn’t like the idea of becoming Americanized, subdued in that way. Now, however, they’ve come in under the BRICS+ and are willing to be subdued Putin’s way.
All the same, perhaps Jesus has categorized all nations of the world under the seventh head, including those that weren’t subdued by Europe. Generally, no country except God’s country is out from under the yoke of Satan. He is the prince of this world. In saying that I wonder if Russia itself could be classed as one of the countries that had to be subdued. When the USSR/communism collapsed in the late eighties and throughout the 90’s, who brought it back to become a world power again? Putin. And if you can receive it, who is Putin actually? The Antichrist.. and we know from the Words of David that the Antichrist is the son of perdition, or possession, the Devil.
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