Man, Revelation chapter 18 and the title of my sermon tonight is, Who is End Times Babylon?
Who is the End Times Babylon?
Now, the reason I'm preaching about this is because we have the movie premiere coming
this Tuesday night for our new film, Babylon USA.
And don't worry, I'm not going to preach the film tonight, so it's not like I'm going to
preach tonight.
You go, well, great, I don't even need to see the movie.
What I'm preaching tonight is basically a lot of stuff that's not in the film.
This is not what the film covers.
But I do want to talk a little bit about the film and explain to you why we made this film,
what's the rationale behind this film, and what's the purpose of the film.
Now, first of all, I want to say this.
The films that we've made in the past, After the Tribulation, New World Order Bible Versions,
Marching to Zion, and now this film, the goal with these films is to reach people.
The goal is to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can be saved.
And then the goal is also to edify God's people and to increase their knowledge of the word
of God and increase their sound doctrine and help them to learn something and grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And these films are very effective tools at reaching people.
In fact, who here tonight either got saved watching one of those films or you found out
about our church through one of those films?
That was how you first found out about the church.
Look around.
So it looks like it works as a way to reach people, right?
So this film, because a lot of people say, you know, why make this film?
Why make a film like Babylon USA?
Well, the purpose is to reach people with the gospel and also to reach people that are
already saved and expose them to hard preaching, expose them to our soul-winning program and
everything else that we do at this church.
And these films are literally viewed by millions of people and God willing, this one's going
to be the same way.
You know, after the tribulation now, the English version has about 5 million viewers.
The Spanish version, even just one upload of it has like 13 million views, 13 million
more than English.
New World Order Bible versions has over a million viewers just on one single upload.
Marching Design is on a lot of different uploads.
It adds up to over a million.
So it's just a lot of people watch these and Babylon USA is to reach a completely different
audience.
Each of the three films kind of reach a different audience and Babylon USA is going to reach
new people that we haven't reached with the other films.
And it ends with a plea for people to be saved.
It's a film about the wrath of God and so it ends pleading with people to receive Jesus
Christ as Savior so that they're not on the receiving end of God's wrath.
That's the purpose of the film.
Now with that being said, the subject of who Babylon is in the end times, this is not a
major doctrine.
This is not some important doctrine of the faith where you have to be right about this.
You know, we're talking about Bible prophecy and different people have different interpretations
and sometimes we see through a glass darkly and as we get closer to the end, things come
clearer.
So I want you to understand that if you don't agree with everything about the film or if
you don't agree with all these finer points of Bible prophecy, this isn't really the most
important doctrine.
This is not a deal breaking doctrine.
It's not a primary doctrine.
It's not even really a secondary doctrine.
It's almost a tertiary doctrine.
So if people have a different view on Babylon, it's no big deal.
And I think that they could still enjoy the film because I think anyone who believes the
Bible would have to agree with a large portion of the film because a lot of the film is just
teaching the Bible and preaching a lot of timeless biblical truths that would have been
true 500 years ago or would still be true 500 years from now if the Lord tarries that
long which I don't believe that he will.
So with all that being said, you know, who is end times Babylon?
What does the Bible teach?
Well, if you would, flip over in your Bible to Revelation chapter 16.
Revelation chapter 16.
Let me start out by just giving you an overview of this subject.
We just read Revelation chapter 18 and it was about the destruction of a physical place.
That's pretty clear in Revelation 18.
There's going to be some physical place that's going to be destroyed in the end times right
before the millennium after God has already poured out all his wrath and the seven trumpets,
the seven vials.
Right at the very end, great Babylon comes in remembrance before God to give unto her
the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
This is basically the last stage of pouring out God's wrath right before the battle of
Armageddon.
And if you would look at Revelation chapter 16 verse 17 just so we can get the timing
here.
The seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of
the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done.
And there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was
not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great.
And the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and
great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath.
So it's pretty obvious when you read this that God's been pouring out a lot of wrath
and doing a lot of judgment but now there's one last thing that he needs to take care
of.
That's why he says, great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the
cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
He remembers that Babylon has not been destroyed yet.
It has not been sufficiently judged.
Babylon has not received what's coming to it yet.
It says in verse 20, and every island fled away and the mountains were not found and
there fell upon man a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent and
men blasphemed God because the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding
great.
And then in chapter 17 and 18, we're just dedicating those whole chapters to the subject
of Babylon.
It's what chapter 17 is about, it's what chapter 18 is about.
Now if there are two entire chapters dedicated to this subject, it's a pretty big subject
in the Bible.
It's covered a little bit in other chapters in Revelation.
It's mentioned in chapter 14, chapter 16, chapter 19, but I mean two entire long chapters
in the book of Revelation are dedicated to it because it's important.
Now let me just back up and explain to you the concept of who the end times Babylon is
or what Babylon represents.
Now all the way back in the beginning, you have the Tower of Babel and that represented
a one world government or a one world religion because instead of being scattered abroad
on the earth, they all joined together into one system instead of being into nations like
God had commanded them and then not only that but they have a false religion where they're
trying to build their own way to heaven or work their own way to heaven.
Then later that place becomes Babylon.
Then later Babylon passes the torch to Persia, passes the torch to Greece, passes the torch
to Rome and at the time of Christ, the Roman Empire was a Babylon.
So throughout history, the geography changes but the attitude remains the same.
That same spirit of Babylon that represents one world government, one world religion,
that spirit of luxurious riches and decadence, that spirit of whoredom, that spirit of idolatry,
there's a continuous thread from the Tower of Babel all the way until now.
So throughout history, various places have been a Babylon.
Now the Bible will often use places like Sodom or Babylon to represent another place because
they're like that place.
So for example, he calls Judah Sodom because of all the sodomy that they were into and
all the wickedness that they did that was similar to what Sodom had been into.
So he calls them Sodom.
We could also refer to Berlin, Germany in the 1920s as a Sodom.
It was like Sodom.
Today we might point to a portion of San Francisco and say it's a Sodom and Gomorrah there or
Las Vegas or other cities that are just kind of dens of iniquity.
We would point to those as a Sodom.
So what does it mean to be a Babylon?
It means a place or an empire or a nation or a city that is like unto Babylon of old.
Now why not literal Babylon?
You know, when the Bible talks about Babylon being destroyed, how do we know it's not the
literal Babylon?
Well, simply because that city no longer exists.
So obviously it can't be that.
Now someone asked the question, well, what if you were on a desert island?
They took exception to looking at current events to interpret the Bible.
And they said, well, what would you come up with if you were on a desert island reading
the Bible?
What then?
If I were on a desert island reading the Bible, I would walk away thinking it was the literal
city of Babylon.
But because I don't live on a desert island, because I live in the real world and can see
things happening around me, I know that that place no longer exists.
So it must be symbolic of something else.
It cannot be literal since that city doesn't exist.
Let alone is that city a place where all the merchants of the earth do business and
all these other things happen.
It just doesn't make any sense.
So it can't be a literal Babylon.
So the question is, who is the end times Babylon?
Who is the city or place or nation or geography that is being destroyed in Revelation 18?
Remember it's not literal.
It's not the literal Babylon.
It's not Iraq, okay?
It is some other place that is being nuked into oblivion that's going to be destroyed
in one hour, that's going to be burned and destroyed in one day.
What is that place?
Well, a lot of people have said, well, you know, it's the Roman Catholic Church and that
theory is probably the most prevalent amongst independent fundamental Baptist churches.
Now let me say this.
That's not a bad teaching because of the fact that you'd have to be blind not to realize
that the Roman Catholic Church is a Babylon.
It does represent the spirit of Babylon.
How could you say that the Roman Catholic Church is not a manifestation of Babylon when
it is called the universal church?
What does Catholic mean?
Universal.
So obviously the Roman Catholic Church is a manifestation of Babylon because look at
the idolatry.
Look at the universal nature.
Look at how it's an apostate, counterfeit Christianity.
Of course it's a Babylon.
But it's not the only Babylon.
You could look at Hinduism and say that it's like unto Babylon.
Why?
Because it's also a religion that came from the Tower of Babel.
It's also a goddess that they're worshiping and they're also, you know, they've killed
saints and prophets and different martyrs and people.
The point is that you can't just pin that tail on one donkey because there have been
multiple religious institutions, political institutions, financial institutions throughout
history that have been like Babylon and the Vatican is one of them.
Rome is one of them.
The Persian Empire is one of them.
Alexander the Great and his empire was one of them.
The Bible connects that with Babylon.
In fact, there's one statue that consists of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.
One contiguous statue.
So obviously Rome was a Babylon.
There's no question about that.
But that's not really what's relevant when we're looking at Revelation 18.
When we're looking at Revelation 18 and the end of Chapter 17, the real question is what
is the specific geographic place that comes into remembrance before God to give unto
her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath in the very end times.
That's the relevant question.
So you can find all these attributes between the Roman Catholic Church and Babylon and
I'll say amen.
Amen to that.
It definitely partakes of the mystery Babylon religion.
No question about that.
But is Rome, Italy or Vatican City the place that is wiped out in Revelation 18?
I don't believe it for one second.
And I'll show you why tonight.
And another theory that I've heard and this seems to be a newer theory, I'd never heard
of it until probably like five years ago.
Now I hear about it all the time is this theory that Jerusalem is Babylon.
And let me just say this.
I'm not mad at anybody who believes that, but I'm just going to give my personal opinion.
I think that that is the dumbest theory in regard to Babylon that anyone has ever put
forth.
In fact, I would be more likely to believe any city is Babylon other than Jerusalem.
You could convince me more readily that Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is Babylon of the end times.
I would sooner believe that theory than I would believe that Jerusalem is Babylon.
Because Jerusalem is the one place that it's impossible that it could ever be Babylon.
Because of the fact that Jerusalem plays a different role in end times prophecy.
That character has already got a role.
He's already got a part.
It's like in the board game Clue.
It's like once you realize Colonel Mustard couldn't have done it, he didn't even have
access to the candlestick.
So you can eliminate, use the process of elimination.
Jerusalem doesn't make any sense.
It's impossible for it to be Jerusalem.
And literally I would find it easier to believe that it's Seattle, Washington or Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil or any Barcelona for crying out loud.
I'm not kidding.
I'm dead serious.
Because you know you could at least convince yourself that maybe hundreds of years from
now if Christ isn't going to return in our lifetime, hundreds of years from now some
great empire would raise up in one of these other cities.
It could be possible that it could be you know Honolulu, Hawaii or whatever.
No, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, I just saw you from Hawaii and made me think of that.
So but the point is that you know it can't be Jerusalem.
It's just not biblical.
Now if you believe that, like I said, this isn't some important doctrine to split over
or to get in a fight over.
But I think it's a half-baked theory.
Now let me give you some reasons why.
First of all, in Revelation 18 where we saw it, the merchants are mourning.
That's like half the chapter.
Nobody buys our merchandise anymore.
We're saying Jerusalem is not a great consumer of merchandise.
Not only that, but Babylon when it's destroyed in chapter 8 says, oh behold I sit a queen
and am no widow and shall see no sorrow.
Jerusalem's never said that.
Jerusalem is constantly in danger, constantly in peril.
It's one of the most dangerous, scary places to be.
So why would they just think, oh man, nobody can touch us.
Nobody can mess with us.
It doesn't make any sense.
Nobody's exporting all their merchandise into Israel.
If Jerusalem were destroyed, no merchants would weep and mourn.
The merchants of the earth have not been made rich by Jerusalem or been made rich by Israel,
by the costliness.
Jerusalem does not live in decadence and luxury and wealth and all these things that we see
describing this place that's destroyed in Revelation 18.
But not only that, and this is one of the biggest reasons why it can't be Jerusalem,
is that when Babylon's destroyed it's never going to be inhabited again.
The Bible's really clear on that in both Jeremiah 51 and in Revelation chapter 18 verse 21.
It says that it will never be inhabited again.
Now what kind of ridiculous idea is this that says, oh yeah, Jerusalem's going to be wiped
out and never inhabited again and then the same month Jesus Christ is going to rule and
reign from Jerusalem.
That's just silly because if the place is wiped out and blown to smithereens and he's
like he's never going to be inhabited.
It's just a cage of every foul spirit and unclean devil and then Jesus is going to rule
and reign from there.
Now here's what the Jerusalem people will say, oh the new Jerusalem.
The new Jerusalem comes down after the millennium so you're just about a thousand years off
on that timeline.
The new Jerusalem comes down, descends from heaven in Revelation 21 a thousand years later.
So don't tell me, oh he destroyed the old one, he brings down the new one.
Not how it's going to work, a thousand years go by before that new one comes down.
But not only that, and this is a pretty powerful proof, Jerusalem is judged and desolated at
the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week, three and a half years before Babylon is destroyed.
Go if you would to Luke chapter 21, let me show you that in the Bible.
Luke chapter 21, Luke chapter number 21.
Another reason why this doesn't make any sense is that if you actually study the Bible and
see who it is that's wiping out Babylon, who is it that hates the whore and burns her
with fire and destroys her?
Well the Bible says it's the ten kings and it says that the ten kings have one mind with
the antichrist, with the beast, and they're doing his will by wiping out the great whore,
by destroying Babylon.
Here's my question, if the antichrist is ruling and reigning from Jerusalem, which we all
know that, that the antichrist is going to rule and reign from Jerusalem, that's where
he sets up his throne and his kingdom.
If the antichrist is ruling and reigning from Jerusalem, why would he nuke himself?
Why would he nuke his own city?
That doesn't make any sense.
Why would he hate his own city and nuke it and burn down the house on himself and the
seat of his own kingdom?
I mean that's just ridiculous.
It's clearly some other place that the ten kings and the antichrist are going to turn
on and destroy.
It's got to be somewhere.
That's why I said Rio is a better theory.
I don't subscribe to the Rio theory.
I don't even think there is a Rio theory, but I'm just saying it makes more sense than
Jerusalem theory.
Now go if you would to Luke chapter 21 verse 20.
This is a parallel passage with Matthew chapter 24 when it comes to the tribulation and the
coming of Christ in the clouds.
Look what the Bible says in verse 20 of Luke 21.
And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation
thereof is nigh.
Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst
of it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter therein too.
Does this sound familiar from Matthew 24?
For these be the days of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Just kidding.
Most of them are going to be fulfilled three and a half years later when I remember to
judge Babylon.
Is that what it's?
No way.
What's he saying?
At the midpoint when this is happening, when the desolation of Jerusalem is happening,
those are the days of vengeance.
And that's when all things that are written are going to be fulfilled on Jerusalem.
But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days.
For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
The people in Jerusalem and Judea at that time.
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 of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be
fulfilled.
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth
distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, man's hearts failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.
For the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and then shall they see the Son of Man coming
in a cloud with power and great glory.
And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads for your
redemption draweth nigh.
So it's pretty clear here that Jerusalem is trodden underfoot, Jerusalem is desolated,
Jerusalem receives vengeance and wrath right before what?
Right before Christ comes in the clouds and we look up and our redemption draweth nigh.
Whereas Babylon is destroyed when?
At the very end of God pouring out his wrath after the seventh vial.
So these events are separated by approximately three and a half years.
It's another reason why that Jerusalem theory makes absolutely no sense.
Go to Revelation chapter 11 and I'll show you that timing a little more clearly.
Last book in the Bible, Revelation chapter 11, some would take a preterist interpretation
and say, oh well, this all already happened, you know, because Jerusalem was wiped out
once before in AD 70 and again in AD 135.
But that's ridiculous because think about how many things in the Bible didn't happen
back then.
Jesus didn't come in the clouds.
The dead in Christ didn't rise first.
Those which were alive and were made weren't caught up together with them in the clouds.
Look that stuff is all yet to come in the future.
Look at Revelation chapter 11, there was given me a reed like unto a rod, verse one, and
the angel stood saying rise and measure the temple of God and the altar in them that worship
therein but the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not for it
is given unto the Gentiles and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months.
So just as we saw back in Luke 21 that Jerusalem was going to be desolated and trodden underfoot
until the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled, here it says that Jerusalem will be trodden
underfoot for how long?
Forty and two months, which is how long?
Three and a half years.
So it's wiped out and desolated at the midpoint and it lies desolate until the end.
Why?
Because that's when Christ is going to come and they're going to rebuild and dwell there
and Christ is going to rule and reign for a thousand years.
But it's going to be inhabited all right by Jesus and the saints and so forth.
Verse three, and I'll give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy a thousand
two hundred and three score days clothed in sackcloth.
This is the same period of time, the same three and a half years, twelve hundred sixty
days that Jerusalem is desolate.
That's the same period of time that the two witnesses are going to be preaching, right?
Jump down if you would to verse eight.
This is when the two witnesses are killed at the end of their prophecy.
So three and a half years later, right?
So the midpoint is when Jerusalem begins to be desolate and then that's when the witnesses
start preaching and then they preach for three and a half years thousand two hundred three
score days forty two months.
It's all three and a half years and then they're killed at the end of that time.
And what does it say in Revelation 11 eight 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.
Now that city, that great city there is clearly referring to Jerusalem.
Why?
It started out by talking about Jerusalem in verses one and two being trodden underfoot
of the Gentiles and it talks about the temple of God which we know the temple is going to
be there in Jerusalem and so it makes perfect sense that these witnesses are preaching over
there and that's where they're killed.
That's where they're laying in the street.
So notice that the great city where the two witnesses lie dead is not spiritually called
Babylon.
Wouldn't this be a great place for God to tell us, hey, they're going to lie in the
street of that great city which is spiritually called Babylon.
This would be a perfect opportunity for God to tell us that.
But instead God relates it to two other places.
He says it's spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.
We're also our Lord.
Oh, and it's also spiritually called Babylon.
And hey, let's judge it even though we already did three and a half years later, but let's
act like it's brand new judgment.
Doesn't make any sense.
Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified.
Now one of the big things that this Babylon equals Jerusalem theory rests upon or relies
upon is the idea, well, if it says great city, I mean, great city, great city.
But I submit to you that Phoenix is a great city, amen?
Nineveh is called a great city.
There are cities in the Bible that I've never even heard of and can barely pronounce that
are called a great city.
If you just look up the term great city.
So that's not a strong piece of evidence because the great city here, the great city, I don't
think anyone would disagree that this is referring to Jerusalem.
The great city.
Why?
Because that's where Jesus was crucified.
But the proponents of this theory will say, well, the Bible flat out says that Jesus was
crucified in Babylon.
No, it doesn't say that anywhere.
Says right here that he was crucified in a city that's spiritually called Sodom and Egypt
where the two witnesses are going to preach.
That's talking about Jerusalem.
Now with that in mind, go to Revelation 16.
Revelation chapter 16 with that in mind, look what the Bible says in verse 17.
The seventh angel poured out his vial into the air.
There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done.
And there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was
not since men were upon the earth.
So mighty an earthquake and so great.
And the great city.
So what do you think we're probably referring to based on what we read in Revelation 11?
The great city is probably referring to Jerusalem since that was called the great city back
in chapter 11.
You know, the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
So it says, and the great city was divided into three parts.
And the cities of the nations fell.
And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of his wrath.
Now I can't for the life of me figure out how anybody could read verse 19 and think
that the great city is the same as Babylon when we're clearly talking about three different
judgments on three different geographies.
I mean, does everybody see that?
Because it says the great city is divided into three parts.
From what?
From the earthquake that took place.
There's a great earthquake and it basically breaks the city apart into three parts.
Then it says the cities of the nations fell.
And I believe this is referring to skyscrapers coming down, falling because of the great
tremor, the great earthquake.
It's going to be the greatest earthquake of all time.
It's going to bring down some buildings.
They're not going to be engineered for this because it's going to be so mighty an earthquake
and so great.
And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of his wrath.
A plain reading of the text here shows that they've not already received what's coming
to them.
That's item three on the agenda.
Item one was an earthquake that affected Jerusalem, 7,000 men died in that earthquake.
Item two is that other cities of the nations are affected by the same earthquake and then
great Babylon comes into remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of his wrath.
Let's get into chapter 17.
Let's get into the meat of this on Babylon and I'm going to hurry through this.
I want to get to certain important things.
There came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, sang unto
me, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many
waters.
It's defined as multitudes and peoples and nations and tongues.
So she's not restricted to one place, she's not restricted to one geography, she sits
upon many waters 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.
So everybody on the earth has been affected by this evil spirit, right?
It says, So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit
upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy having seven heads and ten horns
and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones
and pearls.
Now what does that represent?
Wealth, riches.
Scarlet and purple consistently throughout the Bible represent money, wealth, riches.
Precious stones, pearls, what does that represent?
Expensive jewelry, it's money, it's wealth.
Having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication and upon
her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations
of the earth 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.
So people who look at verses one through six, they walk away thinking about the Catholic
Church.
Why?
Catholic Church has great wealth.
The Vatican has great wealth.
There's a lot of purple, a lot of scarlet, a lot of gold, a lot of jewelry, okay?
So we know that the Catholic Church has definitely murdered a lot of the saints throughout the
history, throughout history, throughout the dark ages, throughout the middle ages.
Now to my knowledge, the Catholic Church isn't murdering any heretics right now.
They stopped doing that about 200 years ago, okay?
But for a long time, they certainly did and they were what?
A manifestation of Babylon drunken with the blood of the saints, drunken with the blood
of the prophets of Jesus but let's keep reading though.
Let's not just stop there because most sermons that I've heard that focus on that element,
they really focus on the first half of this chapter which it's good teaching, amen.
Preach on the old Mother Harlot Catholic Church all day long and I'll say amen with the rest
of them because it's Babylon, okay?
But that's not the place that's being destroyed in Revelation 18.
That is a manifestation of Babylon but the whore sits on many waters and has had many
different headquarters throughout history, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome and so forth.
Let's keep going.
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.
The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit
and go into perdition.
Now this is a reference to the antichrist also known as the beast.
The mark of the beast is his number or the mark of his name.
And so when it says here that the beast was and is not, it means that he used to be alive,
now he's not alive, right?
Just like where he says Joseph is not.
That's what Jacob said when he thought that Joseph was dead.
So when it says here the beast that was and is not, he was alive, now he's dead and he
shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.
Think about that.
This is where the antichrist receives the deadly wound in chapter 13.
His deadly wound is healed and all the world marvels.
Now the deadly wound must end his life.
Why?
Because if someone just got shot in the head and survived or stabbed in the head and survived,
the whole world's not going to marvel.
That's already happened.
Think about Kathie Lee Giffords down in Tucson, shot in the head at point blank range and
survived.
The whole world isn't still marveling about that.
But if somebody actually died and came back, the world would marvel at that.
So the deadly wound caused him to die and that's why it talks about him ascending out
of the bottomless pit.
Now whether this is just, and I'm not pretending to know the details of this because the Bible
only gives us a few scriptures on this, but whether that's just Satan just possessing
his body or whether he actually, the man of sin comes out of the bottomless pit, I
would lean more toward that it's just Satan using his body.
But again, I'm not going to speculate too much because I don't think that the scripture
is super clear on that point.
But all I know is that this guy or this beast or this antichrist comes out of the bottomless
pit and eventually goes into perdition because the beast and the false prophet are thrown
into the lake of fire when this is all said and done.
So whatever spirit is controlling him or whether it's the real spirit of the man who was a
normal human being up to that point, I'm not going to be too dogmatic on that.
But it says that they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written
in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that
was and is not and yet is.
This guy was, he was dead, he was alive and he's dead but he's still here, he's talking.
This is like a counterfeit of Jesus, it makes sense the antichrist, which by the way means
in the place of Christ, it doesn't mean against Christ, the term anti means in the place of,
that prefix.
The antichrist is a counterfeit of Jesus Christ, so it makes sense there's a counterfeit resurrection.
Because Christ rose to live forever and to be alive forevermore.
This guy rises again but he's going into perdition.
That's the colossal difference between this resurrection and Christ's resurrection.
Verse 9, here's the mine which hath wisdom, the seven heads are seven mountains on which
the woman sitteth and there are seven kings.
In the Bible multiple times a mountain is used in prophecy to represent a kingdom, just
look up the word mountain.
So there are seven mountains and seven kings or seven kingdoms and seven kings to go with
those kingdoms.
Five are fallen, one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue
a short space.
These seven kings and seven kingdoms are referring to the world empires that have gone before.
Daniel talked about four of them, didn't he?
He talked about Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome.
When John is seeing this vision he's during the Roman Empire, right?
But there are actually two other places that came before Babylon that were similar empires
and that would be the Egyptian empire and the Assyrian empire.
So if you add those two, Egypt, Assyria and then go Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome you
end up with six and then the seventh would be the final new world order system that's
yet to come.
So that's why John from his perspective sees that five are fallen, what are the five that
are fallen?
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece.
One is Roman Empire, the other is not yet come.
The future new world order that still has not yet come.
Let's keep reading.
And the beast that was and by the way when he cometh he's only going to continue a short
space.
So that's going to be a very short lived empire, that new world order, that final seventh kingdom,
very short lived.
It's not going to be like the Roman Empire that goes on for hundreds of years.
It's going to be very short, okay?
And then it says, and the beast that was and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the
seven and goeth into perdition.
So what I believe that saying is that the seventh king, because the eighth king is of
the seven, the seventh king when he dies and then he is again, he yet is, he comes
back undead or however you want to look at that, is that's the eighth.
Because he's not really the antichrist until he receives the deadly wound.
That's when he starts claiming to be Jesus.
That's when they build a great image to the beast and that's where everybody worships
him and his kingdom really begins in earnest, the eighth kingdom.
Before that there's a human worldwide empire, new world order, but then at that point it
changes into the eighth kingdom, okay, which is of the antichrist.
Let's keep reading.
The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet.
What does that mean?
There are ten kings that are in the end times at the same time as the antichrist, not back
in John's day or anything else or even in our day necessarily.
Ten kings which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
These shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is lord of
lords and king of kings and they that are with them are called and chosen and faithful.
Now stop and think about this.
The ten kings, these ten world leaders, they have one mind.
They all agree and they give their power and strength unto the beast.
They give their kingdom to the beast.
So these are ten world leaders who say give the antichrist all the power.
Let's put him in charge of everything.
Does everybody get that?
Okay.
When are these people going to be defeated?
It says these shall make war with the lamb in verse 14 and the lamb shall overcome them.
That's Armageddon.
Does everybody get that?
That's Armageddon.
And Armageddon is where they make war with the lamb and the lamb overcomes them.
That's separate from the destruction of Babylon and that happens after the destruction of
Babylon.
Everybody get this?
So you've got your seven vials, then you've got the destruction of Babylon, then you have
the battle of Armageddon where Jesus Christ comes on the white horse, defeats the ten
kings, defeats their army, defeats the antichrist, casts the antichrist and the false prophet
into the lake of fire and sets up his thousand year reign on this earth.
So that's what that's teaching right there.
Now let's look at the next verse.
Verse 15.
And he said unto me, he saith unto me, the waters which thou sawest where the horse sitteth
are people's multitudes.
These are not, it's not one place, it's not one nationality, it affects everyone.
The horse sitteth are people's and multitudes and nations and tongues and the ten horns
which thou sawest upon the beast, watch this, these shall hate the whore and shall make
her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and to give their kingdom
unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled and the woman which thou sawest
is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
So what we see here is that the antichrist and the ten kings, they hate the whore, they
burn the whore and make her desolate.
That's what we see in Revelation 18.
It would be a very strange interpretation to separate the end of chapter 17 from chapter
18.
Chapter 17 and 18 are the same subject.
Chapter 17 flows into chapter 18, okay, because look, at the end of chapter 17 we see what?
That the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, verse 16, these shall hate the
whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with
fire.
And then what happens in chapter 18?
Babylon gets burned with fire.
Who's the whore?
Babylon.
So it's obviously setting up chapter 18 in chapter 17.
Everybody see that?
So again, this is where it would get silly if Jerusalem is Babylon, why would the antichrist,
why would he burn and wipe out his own capital city, the place where he is located?
That doesn't make any sense.
Now if we were to take the view that the USA, the United States of America represents Babylon,
now let's plug it into the equation here and see if it fits.
If we plug in Jerusalem it doesn't fit.
Jerusalem's going to be inhabited again.
Jerusalem is not a wealthy place that buys all the merchandise of the world.
Jerusalem's already judged three and a half years earlier at the midpoint, he's not going
to burn down the house on himself, the antichrist and the ten kings, on and on and on.
And historically what has Babylon been associated with?
More like the Roman Empire, the Persian Empire.
If we plug in the USA into this equation, stop and think about it.
What is a whore?
A whore is not a wife.
A whore is not even a girlfriend or a concubine.
A whore is one who is used and abused and discarded.
If you loved her you'd marry her, right?
A whore, there's not a loving relationship there between the customer and the whore or
between the pimp and the whore, okay?
And I'm not going to get graphic about this, obviously, we shouldn't get graphic, but the
Bible has a lot to say about whores.
One of the things it says about whores is that her ways are movable, that thou canst
not know them.
And that goes along with this, the fact that this great whore moves from place to place.
It's not always been the same city, it's not always been the same location.
But you see the whore is one that is used and then discarded.
Well that's exactly what Babylon of the end times, we're not talking about the spirit
of Babylon that's existed all throughout history, we're talking about the place in the end times
that represents a modern day Babylon.
You know obviously this isn't happening now, but if it happens in our century, which it
probably will, we could say a 21st century Babylon, well if the USA is that 21st century
Babylon it makes perfect sense that the Antichrist and the 10 kings would use the United States
to do what?
To get into power, use the military might of the United States, use the resources of
the United States, use the power and influence and infrastructure of the United States to
get into power and then once they're done and they say hey let's just give it all to
the beast, what do they end up doing?
Alright we don't need the whore anymore, nuke it.
We don't want the whore around, we don't want the US influencing us, we want all the power,
we want to give all the power to the Antichrist and we're going to take the USA out of the
way.
We're done with the whore now, you know, burn her with fire, destroy her, kill her.
That's what we see here in this passage.
The Jews, people have said oh it's the Jews, it's Jerusalem, look, when you got a hammer
in your hand everything starts looking like a nail and some people they just get obsessed
with one subject, just everything's the Jews and then there's people, you know, everything's
the Catholics, you know, but anyway, you know, there's these people
who just go over everything's the Jesuits, everything's the, you know, or do you run
into these people where everything's Islam?
All evil in the world goes back to Islam, all evil goes, we need to get a little balance
folks, there are plenty of devils in this world, I mean look, the beast has seven heads
and ten horns, okay, it's not a single headed beast, okay, so just this attitude of everything's
the Catholics, everything's the, and look, you run into people where just it doesn't
matter what you bring up, they bring it back to the Jews, it doesn't matter what you bring
up, they bring it back to the Catholic Church, what you bring up, it's like all the Muslims,
it's false, it's all of the, the answer is D, all of the above, okay, you can't just
get all overboard on one enemy and look, I'm not going to bat for the Jews, we already
made that movie, it's called Marching to Zion, check it out.
I'm not going to bat for the Catholic Church, I've already preached a multitude of, we already
made that movie too, it's called New World or Bible Versions, this movie is about a different
donkey that we're pinning a tail on, it's not, this movie, listen, this movie Babylon
USA, that God willing, you're going to see on Tuesday night, you know, I hope you'll
be there, I hope you'll check it out but it's not about the Catholic Church, there was a
scene where we tied in the Catholic Church, you know, when we were in the historical scene,
we ended up cutting it out just because the film was getting too long and we, you know,
it's called Babylon USA for a reason, so we ended up cutting out a lot of great material
that we had on that, movie's not about the Jews, it's not about why the pre-trip rapture's
false, I was joking around with people saying it's pre-trip safe, meaning that they could
play it for their pre-trip friends and they won't panic or anything because we don't go
into that, you know, we already made that movie but the point is that to sit there and
just, oh, it's the Jews, all the evil in the world is Jews, hold on, there was evil in
the world before there ever was a Jew, first time the word Jew ever occurs is in 2 Kings
chapter 16, well, there was evil before that, there was evil at the tower of Babel, it's
called Babylon, it wasn't called the Jews, so Babylon, Babel goes back a lot further
than the Jews and Israel and so forth, but they say, oh, it's the Jews, you know, they're
the great whore, since when have the Jews ever been the great whore, since when are
the Jews the ones who are just used and abused and discarded, no, actually, you know what,
the Jews are the ones who are doing the abusing and discarding, they're more like, they're
not the great whore, pardon me, but they're the great pimp, you know, if we want to continue
that analogy, that's what the Jews are and you say, well, the Jews are controlling the
United States, okay, well then, it's the Jew-United States of America then, the Jew-SA,
but the red, white and Jew, you know, but anyway, but the point is, look, look, Judaism
is a false religion, Roman Catholicism is a false religion, but I see people going overboard
on both sides where they get this tunnel vision where that's all they see, what about the
Hindus, they're bad too, what about Buddha, what about Islam, you know, and then some
people it's just all they see is Islam, only enemy, why don't we just realize that it's
all bad and there's only one way, truth and life and it's Jesus Christ and no man cometh
unto the Father but by Him, so, when we look at the end times here, if the United States
is the great whore of the New World Order, that makes perfect sense because we can see
a global government that uses the United States military to do what, everything, all their
United Nations peacekeeping, who's the one that's actually doing the fighting, who's
ponying up troops and ponying up the money for everything, look, who pays for the United
Nations, who pays for those military actions, who is the one who has the most powerful military
in the world, well, I'll tell you who had the most powerful military in the world when
the book of Daniel was being written, it was Babylon, that's who had the most powerful
military, Babylon, and you know who had the most powerful military when the book of Esther
was written, Persia, and you know who had the greatest military after that, Alexander
the Great, and you know who had the greatest military after that, the Roman Empire, and
you know who has the greatest military today, Jerusalem, no, the one who has the greatest
military today is the United States of America, and that's not just me eating too much apple
pie this afternoon or something and getting excited about America, America spends more
money on military than like the next 10 nations combined, there's no question, our military
is in 150 plus nations, that's a global empire, that's a world empire, just look at a map
where it shows where all the submarines are, where all the bases are, where all the battleships
are, I mean we got this thing pretty much sewn up, I don't care what Kim Jong whatever
thinks about it, our military is without peer, we are the only super power in the world,
we have no peer militarily, and so it makes perfect sense that we would be compared to
what?
A great military empire like Babylon, well Babylon was a city, no no Babylon was an empire,
a global empire, a kingdom, not just a city, it's a city state, and it had a great empire,
the United States has a great empire as well, and so we plug it in to this chapter, let's
just start plugging it in okay, does the United States have wealth and live deliciously
and think that nothing bad could ever happen, I mean that fits like a globe, and I'll bet
you I've never been to Jerusalem, I don't plan on going, but I will say this, I have
a sneaking suspicion that we live a lot more deliciously over here than they live over
there, that would be my bet from what I've seen and studied and heard, and we have so
much wealth in this country, it blows the mind, people have so much money, even people
that are poor in this country are doing fine, they're doing great compared to the rest of
the world, and so we have tons of wealth, tons of gold, I mean just go down to the mall,
look at all the jewelry stores filled with gold, silver, precious stones, and there's
just lines of people buying it every day, just buying it, buying it, buying it, where
do you think all that gold and silver and precious stones come from, you think it all
comes here from the United States, no, it's coming from all over the world, it's coming
from the Middle East, it's coming from Africa, it's being mined all over the world, and who's
buying it, the United States, more than anyone else, are there other wealthy places, sure
there are, but who's the one who buys the most products, the most goods, it's the United
States, so it fits, purple, scarlet color, gold, silver, precious, why doesn't it say
red, white, and blue, look, it's talking about wealth, it's not talking about a flag,
okay, now here's where people get hung up, people will say, what, something doesn't fit,
the blood of the saints, and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, you know, and they'll
say, well when did the United States ever shed the blood of saints and prophets and
of the martyrs of Jesus, well, first of all, Babylon throughout history has done that,
Roman Empire did that, Roman Catholic Church did that, yeah, but when did the United States
do that, that's pretty easy to answer, in the tribulation, not yet, but buckle up buttercup,
because it's coming, because of the fact that in the end times, what's gonna happen, people
are gonna be beheaded for the faith, all over the world, and in the United States, the mark
of the beast is gonna be implemented, I mean, look, you think it's gonna be implemented
everywhere else except here, if there's anywhere that the mark of the beast is not gonna be
implemented, it's gonna be a third world place, or a rural place, or a backwards place, the
US is gonna be in the early stages of implementation, it's gonna be one of the first places it's
rolled out, Europe, the United States, the most civilized places are gonna get it first,
and that final kingdom of the New World Order, the Bible represents it in the Old Testament,
Daniel with the ten toes, instead of the ten horns being the ten kings, it's the ten toes
of Daniel's image, and it says the toes are mixed with iron and clay, it's a mixture of
iron and clay, why, because it says the kingdom will be part strong and part weak, so in certain
places in the world, the anti-Christ grip is going to be stronger than in others, and
that makes perfect sense, right, I mean it's gonna be easier to control people in cities
like Phoenix, Arizona, or Los Angeles, California, than to control people in, say, Zimbabwe,
or Malawi, or places like that, I mean, just think about it, you know, it's gonna be roll,
I mean, look, the places that are slow to get high speed internet are probably gonna
be the same places that are slow to get the mark of the beast, and how's your internet
speed? It's pretty fast, so you're probably gonna be pretty high on the list here in the
United States, right? So, to sit there and say, well, the U.S. never shed the blood of
saints or prophets, well, it's going to in the end times, how can you not see that when
many people are gonna be killed for the cause of Christ worldwide in the end times? It's
the tribulation, for crying out loud, and that's a whole nother sermon about the tribulation,
well, that's a whole nother movie, too, after the tribulation. So, that fits. The U.S. would
pick up the torch perfectly from these other world empires. Jerusalem's not a world empire,
the U.S. is. Okay, then we get into chapter 18, and we see more things, we see that she
thinks that everything's perfect, she lives deliciously, she's gonna see no sorrow, everything's
gonna be great, she sits like a queen, she's comfortable, she's relaxed. That fits the
United States. We believe that we're invincible. I believe we're invincible, and I know that
it's not true, but I still feel like we're invincible. Why? Because it's just like we've
never been attacked. Think about it. When was the last time our country was actually
seriously invaded and attacked by another military? The answer is 1814. I mean, that's
all I can think of as far as like a serious invasion of the, yeah, okay, a couple Japanese
troops landed in California and then left again in World War II. Okay, yeah, the inside
job, don't even bring that up. But that's not a military invasion. The last, and don't
bring up Pearl Harbor, that wasn't even, Hawaii wasn't even a state yet, and it's thousands
of miles away from our country, okay? They made it a state afterward, but it was a territory
where they have a base so that they could continue the global empire into Southeast
Asia, and they didn't like competition from the Japanese. So, the bottom line, woo! But
the bottom line is, though, that the U.S. has not really been seriously invaded or attacked
since 1814 when the British came in and burned down the White House and they took, I mean,
they had to evacuate D.C. in 1814, which is called, it's called the War of 1812, but it
lasted for three years. So, you can see America having an attitude of, we're invincible. Now,
France couldn't really have that attitude. They've been defeated a bunch of times, right?
Every time there's a war, they end up losing. They're constantly just, you know, getting,
anyway, the point is, you know, the U.S. could easily say this. It makes sense that
the U.S. was, now, Jerusalem, yeah, there's a lot of violence over there all the time.
Not very secure and safe. Okay, what about the merchants? That's half the chapter. I'm
not going to belabor that point. That's kind of a no-brainer, and if it weren't important,
it wouldn't take up half the chapter, okay? But let's just skip over that. Talks about
the merchants, all the merchants were made rich. We talk about that in the movie. You'll
see that on Tuesday night. We go into that a lot. Never going to be inhabited again.
Would that work for the U.S.? Yeah, if the U.S. were just completely nuked, well, there's
six other continents to work with for the millennium, and this one could just be, so
if you're hoping that Christ is going to tell you one day, be thou over Arizona, or be thou
over Chandler, or be thou over Strawberry, Arizona, it's nice up there, right? You know,
I wouldn't count on it because it might be nuked into oblivion, all right? So you may
end up having to be over somewhere else if you get a lot of rewards. Talks about in verse
number 21, a mighty angel took up a stone. We're in chapter 18, verse 21, almost done.
Mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying
thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more
at all. You're not even going to find it anymore. And the voice of harpers and musicians
and of pipers and of trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee. Now, this is also
a place that's known for its music. I mean, why bring that up in such detail because we
produce the music that the whole world listens to. Now, have you been listening to the coolest
music that's been coming out of Jerusalem? Oh, man. All that Jerusalem beat music? Yeah,
buddy. No, no, no. Nobody cares. Name a band that... Look, you could name more bands from
Seattle than Jerusalem if you're my age, right? If you were a teenager in the 90s, the Seattle
grunge... That gives more weight to the Seattle theory. The Seattle theory of Babylon more
than of Jerusalem. So, I mean, come on. We could name several. I can't name any from
Jerusalem or Mecca for that matter. You know, the Mecca, Mohammedan maniacs or something.
I can't even name a single band out of Saudi Arabia or Jerusalem. I'm sure if we went to
Barnes and Noble, there'd be a little tiny section of world music where there might be
like one CD. But the whole rest of the store... But here's the... You go to other countries,
guess what they're listening to? American music. You know, I haven't traveled the whole
world, but I've traveled throughout Europe and Africa, and I heard our music playing.
Worldly United States type music was being played. It says, no craftsman of whatsoever
craft he be shall be found any more in thee. The sound of a millstone shall be heard no
more at all in thee. In the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee. The voice
of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all at thee. Or the voice
of the groom and the groom, the way things are going in America today. For thy merchants
were the great men of the earth, for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in
her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the
earth. Now, those that have the Jerusalem theory, they'll misquote this verse virtually
every time it comes out of their mouth. And that's a weird sign when you have to misquote
the verse every single time. Why not just quote it the way it is? It says, in her was
found the blood of prophets, but any time you talk to these people, in my experience,
they say, in her was found the blood of the prophets. They add the word the there, and
it's not there. It does not say the. Now, if it said the, that would change the meaning
of the verse dramatically. Because if it said in her was found the blood of the prophets,
that would still not just, you know, it still wouldn't turn the rest of the scripture on
its head. Because I would never take one verse and turn the rest of scripture on its head.
But that would imply at first blush, if it said the prophets, what would you think of
the prophets? You'd think of the biblical prophets. If we said the prophets, you'd think
of what? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, Haggai, Malak. That's what you'd
think of. The prophets, the law and the prophets. Okay, but when it just says, in her was found
the blood of prophets, what's it saying? There are prophets that died there. Prophets are
simply preachers. Now, a lot of people don't understand this. The word prophet is preacher.
And if you study in the New Testament, every time the word prophesy is used or prophet
is used, we're not talking about people that are writing scripture or getting divine inspiration
from God necessarily. It's just people getting up in the church and preaching. The prophets
prophesy in the church and they edify the flock and they preach. That's all that is.
And a lot of people have this idea of prophecy is always a telling of the future. Wrong.
Proverbs 31 says the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him, no
future events are predicted in Proverbs 31. It's just preaching. It's preaching by a woman.
Preaching to her son. And it's called prophecy. So prophecy is synonymous with the word preaching.
A prophet is a preacher. Now, if the tribulation is going to be a bloodbath and a lot of saints
are going to be killed for the cause of Christ, don't you think a lot of preachers are going
to be killed for the cause of Christ? Of course, they're going to be beheaded for the word
of God. It's the fifth seal. It's crystal clear. So in her was found the blood of prophets
and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. Now, this is not saying everybody
who was killed on the whole earth, their blood was found there because that would be ridiculous
because we know people have been killed in every city, even the smallest town. If you
look at the crime statistics every once in a while, they have a murder every 20 years,
even in tiny towns. When it says here in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints
and of all that were slain upon the earth, all there is referring to all types of people
other than prophets and saints. So there's the blood of prophets, saints, and just all
manner of people, all types of people, all that were slain upon the earth, meaning all
types or all kinds of people, not just God's people, but just other people were murdered
as well. So if you plug in the USA, fits like a glove, chapter 16, 17, 18, it all makes
perfect sense. So that's why I believe that. Now, I do make this caveat that if this doesn't
happen for another 100 years or something or 200 years or 300 years, then of course
all bets are off. But today, it's crystal clear who that world empire is, who that great
Babylon is. It's the United States. The USA is just like Babylon. But we don't know when
Christ is going to return. I believe that he will come in our lifetime, but it is possible
that he will not. People in the 60s and 70s and 80s, they all thought the same thing.
Did it happen? No. It could be 100 years from now. And the whole geopolitical scene could
change by then. But the way it stands right now, if this happens any time in the near
future or if this happens in our lifetime, it's the USA. Now, why go see the film? Well,
first of all, because the film talks about stuff I did not. This was not a spoiler alert
type of a sermon because I covered a lot of stuff that we didn't get to in the film. That's
why I wanted to do this sermon. Go see the film because it's good, clean fun on the Fourth
of July, number one. What other movie can you take your kids to with a clean conscience
on Tuesday night, right? You can go there, learn about the Bible, learn about the Word
of God. And I think it's a great film to bring visitors to. So if you have any friends or
buddies around Phoenix, there's plenty of room. We've got room for almost 400 people
between these two showings. Bring some friends. Bring some visitors. Get them exposed to some
good Bible preaching and some good Bible truth. And I think that once this thing hits a DVD,
it's going to be a great giveaway out Soul Winning. It's going to be great to give to
people a great starter video to teach them about being a fundamental Baptist and to learn
about Bible-believing Christianity. And we already had the raise of hands of people in
our church that were reached by these type of films. And I believe that there are going
to be a multitude. We'll have to get to heaven to find out how many unsaved people are going
to watch this film just because they're into New World Order films, conspiracy films, films
of this genre. They're going to pop in this film, and it's going to scare them to death.
And at the end of the movie, it says, hey, you need to get saved. And then it gives a
really clear plan of salvation. And they're going to receive Christ as Savior as a result
of this film. And so I appreciate all of Paul Wittenberger's hard work. And it's always
easy to sit back and pick things apart and criticize, and you would have made a movie
about something else. But here's the thing, though. Paul and I have teamed up on these
films because they reach millions of people and because they teach the truth. And so obviously
there are lots of critics out there that haven't even seen it yet, but they're already debunking
it, even though it hasn't even been seen by anyone. They're already criticizing it. There's
already videos on YouTube, Babylon USA debunked, Babylon USA refuted. And I'll say this, pre-trippers
aren't going to be offended by it. Zionists aren't going to be offended by it because
we don't go into that stuff. But I'll tell you who's going to be offended. The neo-con
kind of Kool-Aid drinking Republicans who are really pro-war. The kill them all, let
God sort them out crowd is going to be offended, very offended by this film. Very offended.
But look, Jesus Christ is the prince of peace. And we don't wrestle against flesh and blood.
And I am against warfare. You know, obviously I'm for defending myself and I'm for defense,
but I'm totally against these pre-emptive wars of aggression and I don't believe in
it. I'm against it. And you know, I grew up with the same ideology of being a neo-con
Republican, but honestly I don't believe in it anymore. And so that's the only thing that
I think is going to bother some people who watch it. So it's going to make a lot of people
angry. I don't think it's going to make anybody here angry, but I think it's going to make
that crowd angry. But honestly, if you love the Lord and you love the Bible, I think you're
going to love the movie. Even if you don't agree with every single thing in it, I think
you're going to get a lot out of it. And it's definitely, you know, I just think that even
fundamental Baptists that don't even go to our church or maybe, you know, I think that
they would really profit from seeing this film and it could open their eyes to a lot
of things. So anyway, I'm looking forward to it. I'm excited about it. Who's going to,
if you're going to be there, say, amen, Tuesday night. All right, let's bow our heads and
have a word of prayer.