Angel Two: Revelation & the End to Confusion (Pastor Aaron Trelfa, 09/24/22)

in our first of two weekend intensives on three angels, one message. We're taking a rather specific

look at a particular passage from the book of Revelation. What does it mean for us today?

Last night we started off with connecting the passage in Revelation 14 uniquely to the Seventh

Day Adventist Church. It's our rallying call. It's our profession of faith. There are not many,

if any, other denominations that preach specifically on this passage. So we feel

like we are compelled to do so because we recognize its importance in today's day and age. It is a call.

It's a call from God to us that extends from way back then all the way until now. I believe it will

carry us through until Jesus comes back. Last night we looked at how the gospel is presented

in the book of Revelation. A lot of people shy away from the book thinking that it's too scary

or hard to understand, but rather we came to conclude that you can find Jesus. You can find

salvation. You can find grace connected in that book in large part because these angels start off

being described as carrying the everlasting gospel to the whole world. So if that is a character

description of the angels, then you cannot divorce the gospel from the book of Revelation.

This morning we looked at Revelation's greatest issue and we considered how the first angel was

a call back to worshiping our Creator, acknowledging Him as Savior. There are options out there,

but the first angel says, be faithful to the one who formed you, shaped you, and called you into

being. In a nutshell, that's the first angel. Tonight we're going to look at angel two. I have

titled this Revelation and the End to Confusion. Before we get into it though, let's have a word of

prayer. Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news in your word. More importantly,

we thank you for the good news embodied in Jesus Christ Himself. Tonight as we consider what

confusion is, the implications it could mean for us, its fall and its demise, we would ask and

invite the presence of your Holy Spirit to help us consider these important thoughts. As we pray in

Jesus' name, amen. When I started considering cults, oh my goodness, that went in reverse order,

so you get to see the end first. Cult and confusion. There's often a lead up to cultic activity,

and mind you, that's not occultic as in paganism. This is cults. For example, Heaven's Gate. Those

were the people that were looking for the spaceship on the back of, I believe it was Halebob. Do you

all remember that? I remember that. I think I actually got up one night to look for it. I didn't

see a UFO. Sadly, that resulted in a lot of people killing themselves, expecting the aliens to take

them home. It was very sad and tragic. We can think of the Manson clan led by Charles Manson himself.

That was cultic behavior. The man gathered a following, and we know that it involved

heinous murder. It certainly was cultic. We can think of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas,

and how they hold themselves up. Whether you are on this side or that side, and how the government

handled it, when we look at the Branch Davidians, they certainly display cultic tendencies.

Then maybe one of the most famous ones, Jim Jones. There was one time that I actually listened to

the Jim Jones tapes. I don't recommend it. It's very disturbing. He recorded his entire final

sermon, if you will, to the group in Jonestown as they drank the Kool-Aid. You can hear the cries

and the screams and the pleadings as the man is encouraging them to go through with it. It's very

sad. It's very tragic. Maybe we can think of more. When we look at cults, though, sometimes a question

comes up. What leads to cultic gatherings or the figurehead at the front? What has been studied and

what has been determined? There's no reliable personality factor. Maybe you can find some

overlapping in the cluster B groups in psychiatry, the narcissistic tendencies, but by and large,

there's no reliable personality factor. What the studies have demonstrated, though, is that there

are certain situational elements that make people more vulnerable to cult recruitment.

That would be loneliness, i.e. moving somewhere new, depression, like a failed relationship,

or just a general uncertainty about how to proceed in life. In other words, you're looking for

direction. You're looking for a focal point. Your world feels like it's turned upside down.

Where do I go? Well, that breeds the perfect kind of situation for a person or a grouping of people

to come forward and provide what you are looking for. What are those things that people often look

for? Well, the myriad of solutions can include structure, often strict with penalties. You can't

leave or else. Drink the Kool-Aid if you... It's a structure. That's a harsh penalty. Close social

contacts, what you find consistently is that there's often a strong intention in distancing you from

longtime friends or family. They don't want you to maintain those long-held relationships. You need to

only find your close-knit connections in the group. And then authority, of course, is often centralized.

Regularly, we see a singular individual, sometimes a collection of other people, but often

it's one, very centralized. This is all according to psychologists and cultists,

this is all according to psychologist and cult expert Margaret Thaler Singer. She says that cults

flourish during periods of social and political turbulence, that during breakdowns in the structure

and rules of the prevailing society. That's where you see cults flourish. Or where have we seen this?

Cults were prevalent during the fall of Rome. They were prevalent during the French Revolution

in Japan after World War II and in Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism. Very turbulent

times. Lots of people didn't know what had happened and what was going to happen and how to proceed

from here. Often families had died, people had been moved either by choice or against their will,

and so cults flourished. Well, what about in America? Cults in America flourished during the 1960s

counterculture movement. This was, I guess, emphasized or highlighted in part by civil unrest.

We know that was prominent during the 60s. The drug culture really came to the forefront. The sexual

revolution, of course, put the pedal to the metal in the 60s. And then the weakening of the family.

So we have to ask ourselves, can we see at least some of these elements present today? Well, I would

suggest yes, we can. One, civil unrest. Summer of 2020 comes right to my mind where we had race

related riots that resulted in more than two billion dollars in damage across our nation.

Violence ran rampant. There were murders and blindings and assaults of people just walking

by trying to go to work. There were autonomous zones set up in at least two of our very prominent

cities. By doing that, they declared, we don't want to be a part of the United States. That is treasonous

unrest kind of language and activity. It was awful. January 6th of 2021 has been in the headlines.

We saw a riot on Capitol grounds. It's not the first time the Capitol has come under attack,

but this was unique in what led up to it, what happened that day. And I praise God, it got

settled in five hours instead of six months and two billion dollars of damage. I'm grateful for that.

I am. And then if you pay attention to any kind of news, if you dig a little bit, you can see that

uncivil protests continue. Well, what do I mean by that? Well, we have laws that allow it. Blocking

roads are not one of those laws. Roadways are routinely blocked and people have to be forcefully

removed. There is looting associated with many of these uncivil protests or just simply because of

a serious increase of crime. You can see it across our nation. It's awful. The numbers are very

startling and it's very sad. Well, what about the drug culture? Well, decriminalization of marijuana

is moving very rapidly. In fact, in recent months is the first time I've seen THC things advertised

in Tennessee. Now, I have no idea where Tennessee stands, but the fact that they're advertising

products now with THC, the active ingredient to marijuana, makes me think the laws are about to

change if they haven't already. We know it's no longer considered okay just for medical use.

People want it recreationally and the evidence that it is addictive continues to stack. It is

addictive in nature. Forget the claims that it is a safe drug. It is not and it's often found at the

beginning of people who go on to harder drugs. It is. Opiate use and addiction continues to rise.

We all know that. My wife is a nurse in the ER. She tells me about the frequent flyers that come.

They're looking for Tylenol 3. They're looking for fentanyl. They're looking for anything

and she's gotten good at spotting them. It's awful. States. I haven't heard anything in Georgia or

Tennessee. Some of our other friends in other locations have set up what they like to call

safe injection sites for heroin addicts. I cannot imagine injecting heroin to be safe under any

description, but for them it's safe. And there are some states that got caught sending out drug kits

to users. If you look hard enough you can find the pictures. You can find the evidence. It's there.

Now this is all rather important and good to know and it should catch our attention because drug

overdoses topped a hundred thousand people last year. That's for the first time ever in our

country's history. Of those, 79,000 were fentanyl related for the age range 18 to 49, making it the

number one killer in that age range in our nation. And it's not close. It outpaces I think the next

three or four combined. That's terrible. There are now pastel colored fentanyl pills coming by the

pallet load from Central and South America. Maybe they're coming from other countries via those

countries, but they're finding them. If you've ever seen the candy Smarties, they are colored

and shaped to look just like Smarties. It's very dangerous because a kid is attracted to colorful

looking candy shaped pills. That's awful. Well what about the sexual revolution? Well right now men

can be women who can be non who can be who knows? Who knows? When it started with a woman needs a

man like a fish needs a bicycle, that there is zero difference between men and women. And we

don't mean that in the women are as capable, but we are meaning that in the literal literal literal

sense. Zero difference. Well this is the inevitable result of it. This is the logical conclusion.

Everybody can be anybody can be everybody. There's no difference. Biological realities today

are ignored or altered. And notice I put quotes on the altered because as you are born, so you are.

Attempts can be made, but they never completely change what you start out with. The stories of

D transitioning mount right now. Contrary to efforts to keep them quiet, you can find them.

They're horrendous tales of what these surgeries and what these alterations do to people at

increasingly younger ages. In case you weren't aware, Vanderbilt University just up the road

from us is currently going under state investigation because on camera they admitted to double

mastectomies on girls as young as I believe 13, 14. Falloplasties on girls as young as 15, 16.

And hormone blockers at about 10 or 11. And the most scary part about it is on camera. The lady

that was proposing it said we're doing this for the almighty Moby Dollar. You can you can fund

a hospital based on how expensive these surgeries are. And it's all caught and they're going to be

investigated. We see and we are told now that pornography is not just something to overlook,

but that it is good to engage in. It's good to consume and it's a positive benefit to a marriage.

Well if you ask the millions of people who are addicted to it with the

unsurprising psychological and physical results, not to mention the relational

harm that it comes, I would encourage us not to consider it good, but it should be relegated back

into behind the curtain and the darkness and a shame-filled room. That's how strongly I feel about it.

And then of course maybe you have noticed that obscene material in schools as long

as young as kindergarten all the way through the university has made it to parents attention.

And you can you can see them confronting the school boards. You can find the imagery involved

in some of these books. These books are promoted as school reading lists or they are placed in

libraries. They depict pedophilia positively or and they also graphically show how young children

minors can engage in sexual acts with one another and it's in our schools. I would like to see it

out of there and this is before we even get into the ever-growing number of neo pronouns like z,

zir, zem, they, them, and theirs. Cake, you can identify as a cake, a cat, a demon, or a lower case

a cake, a cat, a demon, or a lower case g, god. And how you say that's how people are supposed to call you.

It's it's rather startling that list grows. I actually tried to just look up just a definite

number. No one said it but someone said very very very long list to choose from go shopping and pick

what you think fits you. That's how one website advertised it. It leads to confusion amongst the youth.

I find it startling that the most controversial question of 2022 is what is a woman?

People avoid it. People don't like to hear it. You get circular reasoning answers even if someone

dares to try and give you an answer and if you ask it you are shunned, you are silenced, and you can

get kicked off of major online platforms. That's that that's just crazy to me. It leads to confusion.

It leads to an unsettling of society. It leads to the increase in in anxiety and depression that we

see in our young ones. It leads to thoughts of self-harm because who am I? As a teenager that's

the biggest question that that people think and when you are just here's a million options.

How confusing is that? I've raised three boys. Well I'm working on my third and I'm working on my

second. My first one's gone. A little bit of experience raising kids has taught me definitively

young children developing children work best in allowable parameters and by that I mean safe

parameters that sometimes they can lean against like a rubber band. They can stretch it a little

as they explore their identity but it's your it's the parent's responsibility to make sure they don't

just break open the boundaries and go a wandering in the wilderness. So what we find in our society

what about the weakening of the family? Oh this one's going to work. Marriages decline while

divorces increase. This is inside the church as well as outside the church. I believe it's pushing

55 percent divorce rate in our nation and that's at the same time that people are getting married less.

We have more fatherless homes now than ever before. Some communities within roughly a two to three

decade time span went from a 17 percent fatherless rate to a 71 percent fatherless rate.

That's a breaking apart of the family. It is. Both parents work. Now you might find this interesting

but there is I'm fairly traditional in that I think kids need their parents more rather than less.

That's basically the long-held understanding in parenting with children. More interaction with your

kids is better than less but now it is the norm for both parents to work and ask someone else to

raise their child and then you pray that they are teaching your kid ideals that match up with your home.

Maybe you have to. Maybe you're not able to have a single parent working in your household

but it it does affect how the family operates. It does affect it.

Now you might find that it's interesting I have this here happy wife happy life. Have we ever heard

this phrase? I've heard it. I hate it. Here's why I don't like it. I don't like it because it's purely

one-sided. This phrase means that as long as one spouse 100 percent in a joint union if they are

content everybody else should be content. I would rather see happy spouse happy house.

That's what I would rather see because when both husband and wife are giving a hundred percent

into the relationship and into the home that's better. That's good. The moment one regardless of

who it is said you take the back seat all the way down to zero give me the hundred percent. No one's

happy. No one's happy. This is a lie that has harmed marriages. It's harmed families. Well what about

COVID? I'm going to throw in an extra one that they didn't include in the cult but I see

some similarities in aiding to confusion. That's the point aiding in confusion. Well one masks if

you follow the timeline January of 2020 the virus isn't even a concern. March 2020 no one needs to

wear masks. It was in our country blowing through communities in March 2020. That's when everything

shut down. So I'm going to throw in an extra one that they didn't include in the cult but I see

masks are unnecessary. It might make you feel better but no need to wear them. Then June July

2020 roughly it's now masks are a necessity not even an option a must capital M must.

Then you get to January of 2021 and it's well now two is where you should be layering up

and putting on goggles and so on and so on. It's very confusing. Well why is that confusing? Well

because at the same time that we were hearing that businesses and houses of worship were shut down

but not universally. Walmart, Target, Amazon, Apple, Google they stayed open and raked in

billions. Small businesses didn't have an option and tens and tens of thousands of small businesses

were shuttered permanently. It was the greatest transfer of wealth in the business economy that

this nation's ever seen from the small to the large. Well it didn't make any sense if you could

catch if you could catch COVID at a small business where maybe 15 people are there at once

why should Walmart stay open where you could put 200 in there at once. It's just confusing. I'm

just I'm just pointing out some of the the just confusing houses of worship were closed. You could

not practice your faith as you had defined it according to your inspired writings but casinos

were open pot dispensaries were open strip clubs were open the porn stores were open. There was an

there was an obvious interest in closing one and letting the other stay open. Very confusing

highly inconsistent. I'm just pointing out it's very confusing. What about restaurants? Did we go

to a restaurant during the time where I have never noticed a virus, pardon my cheekiness for a moment

I've never noticed a virus that only stayed suspended five feet or higher in the air.

What do I mean by that? You had to wear your mask from the door to the table,

sit below that suspended threshold and then you could take your mask off and converse

like it was any other day. Very confusing very inconsistent and lots of people noticed it and

they said why are we doing this? If I can catch it if I'm safe at the table why can't I be safe

walking to the restroom? That was the general question and I can't fault people for asking that

and then the 2020 riots basically put the nail in the confusion coffin if you will

or shined the spotlight on it because the riots happened right at the end of a couple of months

of everything being closed. You were going to kill grandma was the rhetoric if you went to church

but the tens of thousands of people shoulder to shoulder screaming spitting throwing bricks

were not going to catch COVID because this was a righteous virus. It understood the cause

and you weren't going to catch it in those crowds but you could in a church pew. That was the rhetoric

I remember it I was frustrated with it that basically in many many people's minds kind of

highlighted the confusion to such a point they said what are y'all doing and then forget all the

videos and pictures of those who enforced the rules but didn't follow the rules again confusion

abounded. What about religion? We are a religious institution it's good that we also turn our

turn our attention to us. A recent study released by Lifeway Research the Christian book is called

Christian Bookstore they also do research in other publications they found this in response to these

statements on a survey I'm going to share with you the results one religious belief is matter of

opinion not objective truth just for context. I want to say 90 percent of the respondents

identified themselves as evangelical Christians. There were a couple of outliers I said no I'm just

American but I'm not evangelical I kind of have a belief but I'm not really that. In case you're

wondering how that relates Seventh-day Adventist Church is a part of that camp if you will.

In response to this statement religious belief is matter of opinion not objective truth 54 percent

agreed to that statement amongst evangelical Christians. 34 percent disagreed and 12 said

they weren't sure that's confusing evangelical Christians should be able to answer to this.

One true God in three persons the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit as three unique persons

but they operate as one singular God okay 72 percent agree sounds good what about the other 28

amongst evangelical Christians but when you break it down this is where the confusion rises to the

surface 59 percent of the 72 that agreed with this said that the Holy Spirit is a force not a personal

being perfectly contradicts very confusing 19 percent said that the Holy Spirit can tell them

to do something that is forbidden in the Bible that God can tell you to violate his word.

55 percent said that Jesus is the first and greatest created being

52 percent said that Jesus was a great teacher but not God. Do you notice how when you when you

break it down it doesn't line up it's very confusing what about this one multiple religions

or beliefs are accepted by God you would think evangelical Christians would say I'm not sure

about that 64 percent said that God accepts worship of all religions all Islam Buddhist Protestant

Catholic the list can go on all forms of worship are accepted by God 64 percent everyone sins a

little but most people are good by nature I'm actually surprised that the number of people who

agree with this is as low as it is 64 percent of evangelical Christians believe that mankind has an

inherently good nature completely the opposite of what the Bible explicitly tells us that the Bible

is authoritative 51 percent only 51 percent believe that the Bible has the authority to tell us what

to do and then our last one Christians and politics 24 percent of Americans believe that

Christians should remain silent on political issues there is a growing move towards you can believe

what you want inside the privacy of your home or your church but it cannot come beyond those

boundaries that is becoming the interest just so you know a little bit of nerdism when it comes to

languages the word for political or politics comes from the same root word police in the Greek where

we get city public in other words if you have an opinion at all about public things you therefore

have a political opinion everyone's got him a fourth of the nation would like Christians to stay

silent about them well why why the confusion since the focus of our studies have been on the

Bible and spiritual matters we will primarily focus on the last one on the religion we will turn to

our passage for tonight and we will look at confusion as its detail but first let's ask this

well one I believe that human nature looks for stability from confusion I don't believe human

nature as God's created us is content happy or well off inside of confusion and chaos humans strive

for the stability wherever they can find it sometimes that's in unhealthy avenues and sometimes

that's an unhealthy avenues like addictions or volatile relationships and I don't understand

some of that but people look for it there's a there's a desire for stability and then why the

confusion well because with greater confusion it is easier to gain control as we saw from the cults

at the beginning the greater the confusion the easier it is for a person or a groupings of people

or an institution to come to the front and say I will give you the stability that you want come to

me it's very easy for that well when that happens I think history has given us some lessons on it

let us look to the book of revelation then since we're looking at confusion in the religious realm

the book of revelation describes two systems it presents us with one of two choices it doesn't give

doesn't give a middle ground this is not one of those how you feel it subjective kinds of matters

in revelation there is only one or the other the book contains a strong appeal to men and women in

the last days of earth's history an urgent call to what commitment that's what we looked at

I believe it was this morning earth's greatest revelations greatest issue the commitment who are

we worshiping who's first in your life this appeal is summarized in the symbolism of two women in the

book of revelation one we're going to go through some of this rather quickly in revelation 12 you

will see a woman depicted in white with stars and a crown and the earth and so on beautiful and

gorgeous she is also a pure woman she is pregnant with a baby and if we want to know what a woman

stands for we can let the bible define itself jeremiah tells us that i have likened the daughter

of zion to a lovely and delicate woman that is god calling his people my people in the image of a

delicate woman you read through the rest of the bible and it's usually the chaste lady the pure

woman the faithful lady in the relationship so white symbolizes that the woman in white in

revelation 12 that we see is faithful to jesus and she is undefiled with false doctrine that's the

purity of the white with the stars she's faithful to her true lover jesus she is undefiled with the

corruption of false doctrine she is described as christ's bride his church throughout the centuries

satan has persecuted and attempted to destroy the people of god because we see that the dragon was

enraged with this woman he went to make war with the rest of her offspring that is those that follow

after her as being faithful to christ her offspring who keep the commandments of god and have the

testimony of jesus christ the bride of christ his church it's faithful to him in every generation

but the dragon that serpents of old the devil and satan doesn't like that you can expect his attacks

to come in a couple of ways direct and with options if you will it is good news though that

god has always had a people who are faithful to him the purpose of heaven's last day message in

revelation 12 and 14 is to produce a people so filled with the holy spirit so committed to christ

that they take up the call to share the everlasting gospel with the world that's the people that god

is calling the revelation 14 is also a warning against the confusion of popular religion

why because what we see is that apostasy arises there is a fountain of truth grounded on the word

of god grounded in his law grounded in his truth but then there is also a fountain of error

confusion untruths near truths meant to distract or take away the devil's counterfeit system that

fountain of error has been termed babylon in the new testament it is a distortion of truth and it

originates with the father of lies so let's look now at our second angel this is this is where we

we've transitioned from the intro to the first angel and now another angel a second followed

after the first saying fallen fallen is babylon the great she who made all nations drink the wine

of the passion or in your maybe your translation the wrath of her sexual immorality that's the

second angel or what do we know about babylon well john wrote the book of revelation at the

end of the first century he was the oldest of the apostles to live he was the last one to die

he also died a natural death contrary to the attempts of the romans the stories go that he was

uh the stories go that he was they tried to to boil him alive in oil and like the three hebrus

in the furnace he just kind of walked around and had a bath and they pulled him out and they sent

him away in exile but he didn't die in exile he died in ethos many historians believe that he

lived out his days with mary the mother of jesus as many historians believe that to be how he spent

his last days we know then that at that time actual historical babylon hadn't been in existence

for centuries in 539 bc the meads and the persians conquered babylon the city was attacked on multiple

occasions it was ultimately laid waste it wasn't around in john's time revelations prediction of

the fall of babylon then cannot possibly be referring to the ruins of the ancient city of

babylon it was already fallen on the euphrates in what is today modern iraq so it must mean

something else instead we find that revelation is a book of vivid symbolism in the prophecies of

revelation babylon represents a false religious system confusion we will discover john describes

this more extensively in revelation 17 you have to go forward a page or so then one of the seven

angels who had the seven bulls came and said to me come i will show you the judgment of the great

prostitute who is seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed immorality

and with the wine of whose immorality the sellers on earth have become drunk this harlot has departed

from the faith of jesus because if a white chased virgin bride is the pure church one would think

that an unfaithful red harlot would be an unfaithful church a confused church one not adhering to clear

doctrine here is a picture not of the true church but of a fallen church this apostate religious

system has compromised the truths of scripture so what do we see in a nutshell a woman equals a church

now because we don't have time to cover all of the other references i put it there in the parentheses

a beast equals a nation and a kingdom because this is a woman pictured sitting on top of a beast

the white woman equals the faithful church the harlot equals the unfaithful church so what do we

have what do we have well our church founders warned us about this the founders of the united

states clearly understood that if a church drew its authority and power from the state

intolerance and persecution often follows it often follows for those who don't conform to the

church's mandates because now the church has the sword or the gun of the state in its back pocket

if you will these early american leaders had experienced the tyranny of the state church union

in europe that's how we got so many of our early immigrants here into this new world they were

fleeing religious persecution and they found a room to practice according to the dictates of their

own conscience here in america that's why enshrined in our constitution out the gate is this that

congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise

thereof as a side note that right there is why i was personally cranky that churches were closed

the free exercise thereof i understood to mean if in hebra's god says come together as a religious

community i should be allowed to do it that's just a side note this is important because what this

means is that at the federal level the united states was not intended to copy that of europe

and more specifically england in those days the united states was not going to follow in those

shoes was rather going to allow men and women the room to practice their religion again according

to the dictates of their own conscience not as elected bureaucrats or unelected bureaucrats decided

it was said this by george washington says i beg you be persuaded that no one would be more

zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual

tyranny and every species of religious persecution you can read our early letters and you can read

what our founding fathers wrote on the side and they were religious men and and originators of

our country it's all over the place we recognize the creator and the creator gives the rights and

it's the government's job to protect the rights but there was a limit to what the government could

do when it comes to religion and george washington states it wonderfully no one would be more zealous

than myself to establish barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of

religious persecution thomas jefferson is the one who coined the expression a separation of church

and state that was in one letter in one phrase under one circumstance just a part of your history

you can google this you can look for it it was not enshrined in the constitution it was the

opinions of thomas jefferson in response to a baptist church's inquiry but the idea remains

that there is a healthy distance between how the state and the church work together

can they yes my example and i like to use it is the abolition of slavery churches preached in the

union states all men are created equal we should free the slaves what they're doing is a sin against

god the southern states should not be allowed to do that at the time that they were encouraging

people go support the abolition movement that's a good way for people to work together but no one

didn't mean that the government told the church is what to say

what do we see then in revelation 17 what has happened where now we see a woman and a beast

together in unity well that woman made the inhabitants of the earth drunk with the wine

of her fornication she passed around her false doctrine and let others drink deeply of the

confusing ideas including let's work together to accomplish a common end in an unhealthy and

a false way the fallen church passed around her wine cup of erroneous doctrine the world became

intoxicated with these false religious ideas and you can hear them echo you can hear people taking

up the call this is why we see things like this where where the flags are put at a same or perhaps

one is the other or so on there are differing opinions about it but some will preach from the

pulpit you need to go and they will endorse a politician and they will be able to do that

and they will say go for that person because that person is that should stay out of the pulpit it

really should i would also say the churches should not invite politicians to speak from their pulpit

and let's practice in places i i would discourage it i think that can certainly at least give the

appearance of an endorsement but we see this the church has gained outward recognition by leaning

on the world power which in its turn uses the church for its own objects such is the picture

here of christendom ripe for judgment and please note that our our first angel said that judgment

has come right now i believe this statement is is being carried out in the present when a nation

turns its back on the principles of god's kingdom it becomes beast-like when the church leaves her

true lover and looks to the state for power and support it compromises biblical principles and it

becomes the harlot but what about christian nationalism have we heard the phrase recently

is it being discussed i would propose two definitions for it i would propose two one

simple and straightforward loyalty to your native country nationalism and you prefer to see christian

ideals shape the culture that could be a meaning of christian nationalism because that's just simply

taking the words as they say it because we have to wonder what is the alternative to the meaning of

number one well the alternative would be something like atheistic globalism

are we in favor of atheistic globalism well one-fourth of the nation believes that christians

should be quiet and go along with increasing movements in that direction as evangelical

christians should we be in favor of a country that we love all of a sudden becoming

what in opposition to this islamic hindu wiccan what are the alternatives because as christians

i believe it's healthy for us to want to see christian ideals implemented in our culture

if we didn't want it to be a part of our lives we wouldn't be christians if we didn't want it to

also be a part of other people's lives we would not be evangelical in nature

all right i would be in favor of the first meaning is what i'm trying to say the second one though

is that church and government violate the intents of the constitution by establishing a federal

religion you all of a sudden wield the bible in one hand and you wield a second hand and you

one hand and you wield a secular law in the other and you hold them together jointly and you say

this is what we need to do i would say that would be a violation that would be this next one

god has called us to run rampant across the land and capture and take over things it is god's

directive that we do this go vote i would encourage us to shy away from that kind of language

i would encourage us to be okay with the first meaning and certainly not the second and then i

would caution asking for a little discernment because these two meanings are regularly conflated

in our conversations they are regularly conflated someone like me might be meaning the first one

but i am accused of the second one they're conflated i would pray for some discernment when

you're talking with others that we differentiate between the two be mindful

why the warning well because those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it

we've heard this this is this is a good saying well let's look at really quickly an appeal to

remember in ancient babalon because that's where we get this word in ancient babalon the world was

commanded to bow in worship to a god of gold including captured israelites hebrus bow to the

god of gold we know that disobedience to the commands of that pagan religion was enforced with

the death decree it is sad that out of the whole grouping of men there or or women i'm not sure but

people three hebrus said i'm going to stay faithful to the god of my upbringing to the god of my

fathers to the god of my faith three that's a very tiny minority my friends but that's what it was

the union of church and state in ancient babalon and its propagation of religious falsehoods

reveals how the devil will deceive multitudes in the future because in revelation 17 five we can see

the connection from ancient to present on her forehead that's the same harlot on the beast

the name was written mystery babalon the great the mother of harlots and of the abominations of

the earth she's a mother that means she has daughters that means religious confusion is

everywhere there's multiples of them don't chase down a singular source we should pray for discernment

but here we see the name of this unfaithful bride babalon the great our passage cannot possibly be

talking about literal babalon it is instead talking about spiritual babalon spiritual confusion not

the the middle of iraq that's what we're talking about today an apostate religious system

departing from the pure teaching of god's word it will introduce it has introduced into christianity

many of the teachings of old testament babalon the paganism the confusion the the intoxicating

smells and bells and sounds and and actions and sweet words that fall upon the ears and it makes

us feel so good and then we leave and we go i'm just as empty as when i walked in we find it today

it's true sometimes truth is stranger than fiction this prophecy is talking about a departure from

the faith of scripture and false doctrines would enter the church through false religious systems

identified as babalon where do we get this word babalon from and why do we connect it to confusion

well in in ancient history after the flood genesis records that when the people of that day

did not trust the god who sent the flood to then be true to his promise i won't flood the earth

again they took matters into their own hands and said we will build a tower to the heavens it was

a direct challenge to god their trust in him and his promise to them but when god came down and

investigated what they were doing he was not pleased and so what he did to halt their progress

was to mix up the languages that started what has now led to all of the hundreds of languages and

dialects we have today it started right there the tower of babel therefore its name is called babel

because there the lord confused the language of all the earth they had turned from god's promise

of protection to a human plan to protect themselves are we making the same mistake today is what i want

to know are we making the same mistake when you think of babalon think of confusion in the same

way that we call little toddlers that are learning how to say mama and dada they are babbling right

when someone is speaking nonsense for a host of reasons we use the same phrase they are babbling

that's the root to our word babalon because when religion becomes confused

babalon truth becomes distorted and human opinions are then elevated above god's word

it's nothing more than babbling or babalon i would encourage us instead of allowing our religion to

become confused rather than looking for the distorted truths out there we should instead

look to have truth stand and start contrast to the error truth stands in contrast when god's truth

is clearly preached it's not babbling it is proclaiming there is a major difference between

proclaiming truth and babbling falsehood part of that is where is the emphasis coming from

is it the person or is it god's word is it tradition or what god has inspired the writers

to record it's a good place to start this is why we have been so focused on studying from the bible

about what god wants to teach us we aren't just taking someone at their word and i would say

not even pastors it was one of the early churches i believe it was beria was congratulated because

they listened to what was preached and then they searched the scriptures to confirm it

we should be following their example follow their example don't just take someone's word

as gospel truth read and study the gospel for yourself it's wonderful spiritual babalon

represents a religion that is based on human teachings established on human ideas and it is

supported by human traditions there is a form of man-made religion that is built by brilliant

human religious leaders many of them are well spoken very charismatic in their appearance

and their mannerisms and their talk sometimes i like the cadence of how they speak i've tried

to learn from some of the the good orders of our day but that's not what should attract us to them

that's not why we pick our faith or don't pick our faith

sometimes what we find is that these human religious leaders stand in opposition

to the power of the gospel and the truth of god's word but does that mean that all churches are false

well i would say that we should trust jesus at his word in matthew where he says i will build

my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it if there is a my church for jesus

that means there is a true church there is a true faith there is the lack of confusion somewhere

are we searching for are we seeking after it are we striving to find it is our call and our challenge

today it is built on a solid foundation a church built by jesus or a man-made system of religion

those are the choices we are facing that's what the bible means when it talks about the the fountain

of truth versus the fountain of error the two women represent this the church built by jesus

or a man-made system of confused religion

paul speaks again of the church that he that is jesus is the head of the body the church

who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he may have the preeminence

jesus christ is the only head of the church there are some church leaders who dare to claim that for

themselves i'm the head of the church i am the replacement for jesus while we are here on earth

and oh by the way earth is going to last forever that makes me the leader forever there are some

who say this i am paraphrasing of course they express it more eloquently and soothing to the

ears but that's what they mean look to me instead of jesus my church will last forever don't seek

after the true head of the church well how does babalon fall as we read from our second angel

tonight that fallen fallen is babalon how does babalon fall one you choose a faith that places

jesus as supreme in your life no alternatives no job no preacher no family member no practice

no journeying no repeating prayers off of beads none of that don't take an additional book in

place of the bible jesus should be supreme in your life no alternatives well we have to ask

have you heard that preached so far i hope we have i hope i've been faithful to that have you

heard it don't get caught in the confusion of the world and take your priorities off of him a lot of

confusion out there we went through the list in the midst of it look to jesus choose to accept

the bible as the inspired word of god different than those respondents to the survey accept that

the bible is god's inspired word and has authority in your life if not you might as well put it next

to tolkien you might as well put it next to some of our other writers spurgeon and the like if you

don't believe that it is god's inspired word and authoritative in your life use it as a coaster

because that's about all it amounts to it should be both

seek truth instead of error challenge what you hear jesus says i am the way

the truth and the life truth is not only expressed by jesus it is embodied in jesus

you can't seek after truth without seeking after him him and his teachings are what you should

adhere to challenge what comes your way and see if it lines up with the bible

with the bible jeremiah says in 29 verse 13 a promise you will seek me and you will

find me when you seek me with all of your heart would you like to have the most successful

treasure hunt anyone has ever experienced seek jesus with all your heart he's promised you will

find him you won't get to the x on that map and dig down deep and go where is he he has said i'll

be there when you look for me and then finally babalon's time is running short how does babalon

fall well it eventually just runs out of time it won't last forever the bible tells us

revelation 148 says babalon fallen fallen is a babalon the great she who made all nations drink

the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality babalons fallen it's sealed it's doomed it's

it's inscripted on that death certificate already babalons not going to last forever

do you want to be with something that doesn't last forever do you want to be a part of an

institution or a part of a belief system or a part of a practice that has an expiration date

and your name's written beside it i would hope not i would hope not this is stated again in

revelation 18 the angel says again fallen fallen is babalon the great now you should notice when

things are repeated this many times in the bible she has become a dwelling place for demons do you

want to be engaged in that kind of practice i would hope not and then a plea come out of her

my people if you have found yourself surrounded by religious confusion or tripped up in the past or

you're struggling today there is a plea god calls you his come out of the confusion and you're

and into the truth come away from the distractions and into the stability of jesus christ the rock

get away from all of that mess and get into his loving arms that's a call for you and for me

there is another warning cry that call do you find yourself in confusion

you desire confusion to fall and truth to reign in your life

i think those are good questions to consider we've identified what babalon is we we recognize it as

religious confusion we've seen that it's every place and we've considered a few of the tests

you can apply to it i would challenge you that if you answer yes to that second question

to that second question follow some of those guidelines open up genesis to revelation if you

don't know where to start would i recommend to you the gospel of matthew or john you can start in

genesis it's a great history sometimes people get bogged down in genesis read the gospels if you

want to know about the church after jesus goes back to heaven read the book of acts it reads like a

story it's powerful what god did in the early church and you read that he wants to do it today

in his church right now if you don't know where to start ask me ask one of our other church members

we have resources we can share with you we will give personally of our time to open the bible

and study the truth we're not going to just sit here afterwards in the back or in the aisle

and i'm going to tell you something and then expect you to just believe me

nope won't do that come study the bible with us we would love to do that our interest here at the

ring old seventh day of ennish church is to lead you to jesus through a study of the bible

not because you're just coming here we want to introduce you to jesus and then finally how will

you respond to that last call to come out of that alone it's going to fall we can hurry along the

falling process time is of the essence there is an urgency to this call how will you respond to it

i pray that each one of us here can respond affirmatively we can say yes lord i want to

follow you give me spiritual blinders so i'm not looking at the hot mess out there it's a

dumpster fire in our worlds friends don't be distracted by the flames save that for camping

don't let it get into your spiritual walk answer the call come out of confusion and into truth

seek jesus let's pray heavenly father we thank you so much for this message of hope

and a challenge for us we thank you that in the second message we still continue to see

the gospel portrayed in stark contrast to the falsities of what the world or other religious

institutions have to offer we long to find truth in you and in the bible lord i pray that you would

inspire us today motivate us to be faithful to you and your word may we be counted among those whom

you call my people and may we follow after you faithfully until you come to take us home we

praise you and we thank you for loving us for we pray in jesus name amen you