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The previous lecture (chapter 14) in this series was an interlude message because of the fact that it was delivered to the audience at our conference in Manassas, Virginia in April (2011) and most of the people there had not heard any of my previous lectures in this series.
So while my message there was new material, it also consisted in part of some aspects of earlier lectures that I had not had time to develop previously. We made a point of stressing the fact that the notion of personal salvation taught by the vast majority of churches—while it is true—misses the fact of the national salvation promised to Israel. And we will come back and develop that idea in a much greater way later.
At this juncture, then, I am going to go back and pick up where we left off, historically and chronologically, in the lecture prior to the one given at Manassas, a lecture which I called: The Fourth Empire Extended: Papal Rome, part 3.
To get us to that point where we left off in Papal Rome, part 3, I will present a very brief review. In order to understand what Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom are all about, we have been tracing the prophecies embodied in the image seen in a dream by King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon, who lived circa 600 B.C.
That story is given in Daniel, chapter 2, and we have read it numerous times, so we won’t do more than skim the surface at this point just to refresh our memories. The image had a head of gold, which symbolized the Babylonian Empire of Nebuchadnezzar’s time.
The chest and arms of the image were made of silver. We found that those body parts represented the Medo-Persian Empire, which conquered and superseded the Babylonian Empire.
Next, the belly and thighs of the image were made of brass or bronze. Historically, that represented the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors, and the Greek Empire took over the former Medo-Persian Empire.
The image’s legs of iron clearly found historical fulfillment in the pagan Roman Empire. We then found that following the dissolution of the pagan Roman Empire, that an institution called the papacy gradually arose in Europe.
After a few centuries it came to dominate almost all of Europe for over a thousand years. It arrogated to itself both political and religious power; that is to say, it controlled both church and state.
We then saw from the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation that the demise and fall of the papacy—not the total extinction, mind you—but its fall from the pinnacle of power that it had previously enjoyed—that fall came precisely on God’s prophetic timetable in the years 1866 to 1870. The temporal power of the papacy was greatly diminished by the events of those years.
That is where we left off. I had stated that we would next consider the rise of financial Babylon, as opposed to religious Babylon. Well, I have explained why we had to have an interlude message, but now I have to tell you that as I began preparing this message with that title, I was led to lay more groundwork for it first.
So I am going to give you a message today which I have entitled The Arms and Legs of Mystery Babylon. You see, before we actually address Financial Babylon, I thought it might be worthwhile to show you more of the scope and breadth of this global governance entity; hence, the arms and legs metaphor.
Turn to Revelation, chapter 16. I am sure that by now, those of you who have heard the whole series to date will recognize the fact that this entity which the Bible calls Mystery Babylon is not limited to only a religious system. But many have thought so.
The Reformers recognized the “little horn” of Daniel’s prophecy as the papacy, and some prophetic expositors in the past century—in particular, those from the Seventh Day Adventist denomination—have focused on the Roman Catholic Church as seemingly comprising the sum total of Mystery Babylon.
In the course of my research I have read a considerable amount of their literature, and they are essentially correct—as far as they go; but unless I missed it, I have not seen where they identify other players as comprising other parts of Mystery Babylon.
And they are not the only scholars who miss it. But we should also recall that at least they, along with the conservative wing of the Presbyterians, are carrying on the work of the Reformers vis a vis identifying the antichrist system of Mystery Babylon, while the vast majority of Christian scholars and theologians today do not address the issue at all. And why do you suppose that is?
Yes, because they don’t have a clue what Mystery Babylon actually is. That is not to condemn them. Can they help it if Father has not given them eyes to see? Babylon today wouldn’t be a mystery if everybody understood it.
The point is that Mystery Babylon is not limited to merely the religious systems. In Revelation 16, speaking of Mystery Babylon as “the great city,” it says:
Revelation 16:19 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.
From this verse, some expositors derive the idea that Mystery Babylon must have only three parts or legs, as it were. I do not necessarily agree with that idea. I am quick to add, however, that this is a very minor disagreement. Let me explain how I see it.
Even if we did not read the surrounding context, it is clear from this verse alone that this is speaking of the time of the judgment of Mystery Babylon. You see, Mystery Babylon is not some entity that has only arisen in our era of the past century or two.
It has existed in secret all down through the centuries since its foundation in the ancient Babylonian Empire of King Nebuchadnezzar. So that when we read of it here in Revelation 16, it is speaking of the time of its judgment—an era close to the end of its secret reign over the earth.
It is then that it is divided into three parts. I have an idea about what those three parts refer to, but it would be best to reveal that after we have explained more about Mystery Babylon in its manifestations in the past few centuries.
Again I say, this is a very minor point of disagreement, because as we now list some of the aspects of the world-ruling system of Mystery Babylon, we might possibly be able to include all of them under just three major categories, that which I am calling the “legs” of this mother of harlots.
Therefore, in addition to the religious systems of Mystery Babylon, there is the economic or the financial leg. There is also the political leg. And those three would be the primary systems of control over the world. To repeat: those three legs are the political, the economic and the religious systems.
Yet, as we see how Mystery Babylon (MB) permeates all aspects of society, some would identify other spheres or areas where “the system” exercises total or almost total control. And we shall refer to these as the various “arms” of Mystery Babylon, where it reaches out and touches you, as it were, in many areas of our day to day lives.
You could probably add to this list, but here are just a few. I will give you a bullet-point list first and then we will make a few comments on each one, or at least what we have time for today.
As I said, you could no doubt add a few more to that list, but those in this list certainly comprise the institutions which exert serious control over the day to day lives of most of us.
We have spent three lectures discussing the Papal Roman Empire which exerted its control over almost all of Europe through the religious aspect of Mystery Babylon known as the Roman Catholic Church.
And once again—as I have repeatedly stated in previous lectures—this is not a condemnation of the millions of people who have been and still are in bondage to that system of control. We desire them to come out from religious Babylon and be free in the liberty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Moreover, while I have spent three lectures detailing how papal Rome fulfilled certain prophecies found in Revelation and Daniel, I would be remiss if I did not at least say something at this point about the Protestant churches and other Christian, but non-Roman Catholic denominations.
We cannot simply ignore them. They also have been, and still are, a very influential force to be understood in the context of the Stone Kingdom and Mystery Babylon.
As with Catholicism, we do not condemn the people in those churches, but I will state here and now that most of these other denominations have long ago lost their salty savor. They are now essentially wells without water.
They have become daughter-harlots of the great religious harlot known as the Roman Catholic church. For at least half a century—and in many cases, much longer—many of the formerly mainstream denominations have been gradually drifting back and compromising the Word of God for the sake of so-called “Christian unity” with Rome.
Well, I believe in Christian unity. And I practice Christian unity. For example, when we have a family reunion, I pray and praise God with my siblings, some of whom still remain Catholic. I do not worship with them at the Catholic mass, but we do have Bible studies and praise and worship when we get together.
I know their hearts. They love Jesus just as I do. But what I believe that I understand about the great harlot religious system, they do not see (yet). And so we pray and worship together in Christian unity, as far as it can go.
I will have much more to add to our studies concerning the Protestant harlot daughters in lectures to come. At this juncture, however, we want to make a few comments concerning what I call the “arms” of Mystery Babylon in America today.
There is our legal system. Actually, there are two. And they have been growing together ever since the founding of our nation. One is based on common law which was based largely on Christian legal principles dating back to the ancient Hebrew theocracy at the time of Moses.
In other words, one legal system is based on the commandments, statutes and judgments of Yahweh, God Almighty. At the same time, another system, based largely on ancient Roman law, has stealthily crept into our educational, legal, legislative, executive and judicial systems, so that this ungodly system of ancient Roman law now prevails in our land.
By this knowledge that it is linked to ancient pagan Rome, we can see, therefore, that our legal system is connected to the iron legs in the image of Mystery Babylon seen by old King “Nebby.” It is part of the mystery of the Babylonian system existing secretly all down through the ages.
You will want to make a mental note that this idea of two systems existing side by side in America is very much a key component of our study. We will delve deeply in depth on that in lectures to come in this series.
As a little hint, think of the parable of the wheat and the tares. In more recent lectures, I have expounded upon this parable as part of my presently on-going series called The Kingdom of God (KoG), aka, The Kingdom of Heaven. See the KoG Order Form here, lectures 36 & 37.
We will come back to the legal system later. To be continued.
