blasphemous tool of Anti-Christ. But we must look more closely at the woman. Mil lions are deceived by the pomp and popularity of many modem churches, and especially the big and ever-grow ing World-Church system. This ecumenical organization seems in many ways to be patterned after the apostate religious organization of Revelation 17. John in the vision saw a beautiful woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and prec ious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hands full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And John said, “ I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints;” yet, “ when I saw her I wondered with great admiration.” One has translated that, “ I was utterly amazed and wondered greatly.” And an angel said to John, “Wherefore didst thou marvel; I will tell thee the mystery (or the secret sym bolic meaning) of the woman.” Some of the church movements that look so wonder ful to carnal eyes and seem so proficient after the ways of men, may be just plain spiritual harlotry in God’s view. The church may look beautiful and still be the mis tress of Satan. God has a very low opinion of apostate religious systems. He has a high opinion of that church that is bom of His Spirit, blood-washed and tmsting in the finished work of Christ for salvation. Yes, there is a great World Church in the making and Satan will make her a sanctuary for his working, and kings and the great of the earth will find her very helpful to all of their nefarious purposes. God’s Word (Rev. 18:4) says: “ Come out of her, my people, so that you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues.” God’s dear children should be constantly warned against following present day religious trends. We should fear the evangelistic effort that seeks to build the blood- bought church through the sponsorship of the Christ- denying harlot. We need to see Satan’s working clearly. Men are seeking to unite the religions of the world under one head! Out of this union, the Bible says, will come the great apostasy. But God is not failing, for the bride of Christ is in the world, as well as the harlot of the Anti-Christ. But the false prophets today are leading men to Anti- Christ, and millions of people would rather follow lies. The Holy Spirit in II Timothy 4:3, 4 warned: “ For the time is coming when people will not tolerate or endure sound and wholesome instruction; but, having itching ears (for something that is pleasing and gratify ing to them), they will gather to themselves one teacher after another chosen to satisfy their own liking and foster the errors they hold.” It will be easy for millions to accept this Anti-Christ, because the Bible says that in the last days perilous times shall come, men shall be lovers of their own selves, cove tous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but deny ing the power thereof. The question I want to ask you as I bring this study to a close is, Which church do you belong to? Do you belong to the Church which is the Bride of Christ? Are you bom again? Does the Holy Spirit dwell in you? Do you wear the garments of His righteousness? Or do you belong to the large, popular church where you go to church with itching ears, hoping to hear something that will please your carnal nature? Friends, listen to the Spirit’s call. Come out of false ness. Come unto Christ. Be safe in His care and keeping.
Today's Preparation for Anti-Christ's Rule (cont.) phose into the great “whore,” ecclessiastical Babylon. “ Come hither and I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth 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” (Rev. 17:1-9). Fornication here is not physical but spiritual idolatry. Her name is “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” (Rev. 17:5). Study carefully, for here is the church that the False Prophet will use and make universal and completely authoritative. No one will dare disagree with any of its pronouncements. No church today fully fits the picture, but in all of the churches of Christendom there are forces that will unite and form the Harlot Church. Anti-Christ will do a tremendous religious job. He will create One Great Church, and it will be the accepted religion of rulers and inhabitants of all the earth. Anti-Christ will need a religion that can control the minds of the multitude. Satan will therefore give a throne to the “ scarlet woman,” and when she speaks she will speak ex cathedra, “ from the throne.” Everyone must obey. Finally, however, this Apostate Church will carry her persecution and slaughter too far. She becomes drunken with the blood of the saints, and martyrs (v. 6). Political Babylon will hate her, and finally make her desolate. They will strip the harlot of her glory and power, and “ eat her flesh and bum her with fire,” a figure presaging her complete destruction. “ God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God be fulfilled” (v. 17). This is her penalty for being the The Unlocking of Ancient Civilizations (concluded) However, one discovery after another has enabled us to reconstruct the history of this long-forgotten people. The work of the spade has proved them to be a nation embrac ing at one time the greater part of Asia Minor, and scarcely less great than Egypt or Assyria.** Dr. A. S. Yahuda, an expert in languages, who occupied the chair of Biblical History in Berlin University, and of Semitic languages in the University of Madrid, and who has devoted his life to the study of the Old Testament and Oriental languages, calls attention to the prevalence of Egyptian words and phrases in the Pentateuch. He states that the narratives of the creation and the flood in Genesis are far older than the period of the Exile and belong to the age of patriarchs and to the civilization of Ur. He therefore challenges the theories of the critics who deny the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch and asserts that the Assyro-Babylonian traces in these books are much fewer than were supposed. He adds that “ there is also hardly any portion of the Pentateuch for which better and more comprehensive evidence could be brought from the Egyptian monuments and languages than the Joseph and Exodus narratives. In other words, the records of these five Old Testament books could have been written down in their present form only by one who ‘was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ (Acts 7:22).” *** Summing up the value of the work of the spade, Dr. Yahuda expresses the case well: “ It need hardly be emphasized to what a great extent archaeology has already proved itself to be a useful and trustworthy source of information and confirmation of Biblical questions.” *** ‘ Caiger, Bible and Spade, London, 1944, p. 12. 'For a list of these see Caiger, Bible and Spade, p. 68. * 'See Garstang, The Hittite Empire, London, 1929. " ' Y a h u d a , The Accuracy of the Bible, New York, 1935, Intro. p. 26.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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