Normally, I will take a myth that I have found over the years and retell it. This week, I wanted
to tell the story of Qalupalik, an Alaskan story dealing with the Innuit
version of the kelpie. However, the Nunavut Animation Lab has done a
remarkable video of this same story, and it would be a shame not to call
attention to it. So this week, rather than read my version of a
legend, you can access the Nunavut Animation Lab here. Once you've watched it, I've got a few thoughts on it.
Have you watched it yet? Good. One thing I find most interesting about this myth is that it highlights an age-old tradition in storytelling: that of The Moral.
The
Moral has been around for almost as long as storytelling has existed,
and even today persists as a means of conveying a message. In Greek
plays, the Chorus existed to condense and give the audience something to
"take home" - a lesson to learn. In the Bible, we see morals in the
parables of Christ, the struggle of Job, even the Garden of Eden.
Today, we may find morals in Aesop's Fables and other children's
stories, such as "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Jurassic Park, one of my favorite novels (and movies), teaches us that we don't have the right to play God.
The
list goes on and on; morals abound in literature, and this week's myth
all but screams its moral. In the story this week, Qalupalik's hunger
for children derives from a child's unwillingness to listen to his or
her parents and elders. The moral is clear: obey your parents. It's
interesting that there are many versions of the Qalupalik story, and yet
most of them contain that simple qualification: Qalupalik snatches
children who don't obey their parents.
While it is
certainly an important lesson to learn, we must ask ourselves why we
even feel the need to put morals into literature. Jonathan Gotschall,
author of The Storytelling Animal,
argues that stories - particularly moral stories - teach us how to
behave in social settings. They encourage us to interact with each
other in mutually beneficial ways, creating a stronger society.
Of
course, this flies in the face of the ever-popular "survival of the
fittest" myth. We are taught that the strongest survive, the ones with
the greatest advantages carry on their blood lines while the rest simply
die out. Evolution only works when we're selfish.
But
that isn't what the literature teaches us. Indeed, when a character in
literature is self-serving, he or she is typically the villain in the
tale, while the hero acts selflessly for the good of the whole. Whether
it's William Wallace dying for freedom or Jesus dying on the cross for
the sins of humanity, whether it's Captain America crashing his own
plane or Darth Vader sacrificing himself to destroy the Emperor, the
popular - the good - stories teach us that self-sacrifice and moral
behavior are the best course of action for everyone.
So
whether or not Qalupalik actually exists is irrelevant (though the
parallels between the Innuit tale and the Celtic tales of the kelpie are
compelling). What matters in this tale is the moral: if parents are
leading correctly and the children are following, society will remain
intact. It is when our roles begin to break down that monsters emerge.
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
How It Is That Men Have Stories
Mouse used to go everywhere. Rich or poor, no house was safe from
mouse. She would watch and look with her eyes, seeing everything that
was hidden, even in the most secure treasure chambers.
In the old times long ago, she wove a story child of everything she saw, and to each of her story children she gave a cloak - one white, one red, one blue, and one black. The stories lived in the house and served her, and she treated them as her own children.
Now, as it so happened, a sheep and leopard lived in a village, and the two of them bore children. Sheep had a daughter and Leopard had a son. There was a famine in the land, and Leopard went to Sheep and said, "The only way for us to survive is to kill our children and eat them." Sheep thought to herself, "If I do not agree, she will kill my child anyway," so she answered, "Good."
But Sheep did a deceitful thing and hid her child, took everything she owned, sold it for dried meat, cooked the meat, and brought it before Leopard. Both of them ate together, and Leopard killed her own child and ate that also.
A year passed, and Sheep and Leopard both became pregnant again. The people of the village were hungry, and Leopard once more told Sheep, "Let us kill our children and eat them." Sheep agreed, but, like last time, she hid her child safely away, bought some dried meat, cooked it, and set it before Leopard.
Many years later, Leopard came to Sheep and said, "Come. Let us feast."
Sheep saw a table prepared with a great feast - greater than she had ever imagined. Beside the food were three spoons. Sheep asked Leoaprd, "Why are there three spoons, when there are only two of us?"
Leopard laughed and opened the door to her home. "Come, daughter, and let us eat together." Her daughter came out, and the three of them ate supper. The Leopard explained, "Because I was hungry, I killed my first child and ate him. Then I learned how you had saved your first child, and I thought, 'I, too, will play this trick on Sheep.' So I kept my daughter alive."
Sheep went home and took care of her two children. Over time, her daughters grew, and so did Leopard's daughter. Leopard put her child into the fatting house, and she went to Sheep and said, "Please, give me one of your daughters so that our children may be in the fatting house together."
Now, as it was, Sheep and her daughters were both black, but they had servant Goats who were white. So Sheep took one of the goats and dyed its wool black. She covered her own daughter with white chalk, and sent them to the fatting house together. When they arrived, Leopard thought that the goat was Sheep's daughter, and during the night she entered the room, took the Goat, and killed it.
The next day, Leopard went to Sheep and said, "Please give me your other daughter, that the three of them may be friends in the fatting house together."
Sheep agreed, but she told her daughter to play a trick. When the second sheep reached the fatting house, she took a bottle of rum and gave it to Leopard's daughter, who drank it and fell asleep. When she was asleep, the two sheep took Leopard's daughter and put her in in one of their own beds. At night, when it was very dark, Leopard came in and took her own daughter and ate it, thinking it was one of Sheep's daughters. The next morning, Leopard went out very early to get palm wine.
The two sheep left the house after her. One of them went home, but the other followed Leopard. When Leopard was in the palm tree, the sheep shouted, "You tried to kill me, but you killed your daughter instead!" Leopard jumped from the tree and chased after the sheep, but she got away.
As she ran, the sheep came across an old woman with a Juju tied around her waist. The woman was tired, and Sheep offered to carry her Juju. When they arrived at the woman's house, the woman was tired and her head hurt. Sheep said, "Let me get you some water."
The woman was thankful. When the young sheep had done as she promised, she went into another part of the house. There she saw the woman's medicine, which she rubbed over her wool. The next morning, the woman asked Sheep for the medicine. Sheep answered, "Last night, I used that medicine!"
The old woman sprang up and chased after the sheep. In her hurry, the Sheep ran into the door of Mouse's house, which broke. All of Mouse's stories ran out, and Mouse could not get them to come home. Now, all of the stories of earth roam up and down the land and all over.
-From the Ekoi people of Africa
The most interesting part of this story is the belief that all men, all cultures, share a common source for their primal stories. What I think is also interesting is the fact that the overall story makes no sense. The bit with Leopard and Sheep really play very little part in the bit with the Sheep and the Old Woman with the Juju. It's almost as if the belief in a common origin for stories (a pre-Tower of Babel world, perhaps?) remained, but the means of dispersion for them was lost to this culture. So, somewhere along the way, they made up an entirely different story. I can't prove this, of course, but it's just an observation.
In the old times long ago, she wove a story child of everything she saw, and to each of her story children she gave a cloak - one white, one red, one blue, and one black. The stories lived in the house and served her, and she treated them as her own children.
Now, as it so happened, a sheep and leopard lived in a village, and the two of them bore children. Sheep had a daughter and Leopard had a son. There was a famine in the land, and Leopard went to Sheep and said, "The only way for us to survive is to kill our children and eat them." Sheep thought to herself, "If I do not agree, she will kill my child anyway," so she answered, "Good."
But Sheep did a deceitful thing and hid her child, took everything she owned, sold it for dried meat, cooked the meat, and brought it before Leopard. Both of them ate together, and Leopard killed her own child and ate that also.
A year passed, and Sheep and Leopard both became pregnant again. The people of the village were hungry, and Leopard once more told Sheep, "Let us kill our children and eat them." Sheep agreed, but, like last time, she hid her child safely away, bought some dried meat, cooked it, and set it before Leopard.
Many years later, Leopard came to Sheep and said, "Come. Let us feast."
Sheep saw a table prepared with a great feast - greater than she had ever imagined. Beside the food were three spoons. Sheep asked Leoaprd, "Why are there three spoons, when there are only two of us?"
Leopard laughed and opened the door to her home. "Come, daughter, and let us eat together." Her daughter came out, and the three of them ate supper. The Leopard explained, "Because I was hungry, I killed my first child and ate him. Then I learned how you had saved your first child, and I thought, 'I, too, will play this trick on Sheep.' So I kept my daughter alive."
Sheep went home and took care of her two children. Over time, her daughters grew, and so did Leopard's daughter. Leopard put her child into the fatting house, and she went to Sheep and said, "Please, give me one of your daughters so that our children may be in the fatting house together."
Now, as it was, Sheep and her daughters were both black, but they had servant Goats who were white. So Sheep took one of the goats and dyed its wool black. She covered her own daughter with white chalk, and sent them to the fatting house together. When they arrived, Leopard thought that the goat was Sheep's daughter, and during the night she entered the room, took the Goat, and killed it.
The next day, Leopard went to Sheep and said, "Please give me your other daughter, that the three of them may be friends in the fatting house together."
Sheep agreed, but she told her daughter to play a trick. When the second sheep reached the fatting house, she took a bottle of rum and gave it to Leopard's daughter, who drank it and fell asleep. When she was asleep, the two sheep took Leopard's daughter and put her in in one of their own beds. At night, when it was very dark, Leopard came in and took her own daughter and ate it, thinking it was one of Sheep's daughters. The next morning, Leopard went out very early to get palm wine.
The two sheep left the house after her. One of them went home, but the other followed Leopard. When Leopard was in the palm tree, the sheep shouted, "You tried to kill me, but you killed your daughter instead!" Leopard jumped from the tree and chased after the sheep, but she got away.
As she ran, the sheep came across an old woman with a Juju tied around her waist. The woman was tired, and Sheep offered to carry her Juju. When they arrived at the woman's house, the woman was tired and her head hurt. Sheep said, "Let me get you some water."
The woman was thankful. When the young sheep had done as she promised, she went into another part of the house. There she saw the woman's medicine, which she rubbed over her wool. The next morning, the woman asked Sheep for the medicine. Sheep answered, "Last night, I used that medicine!"
The old woman sprang up and chased after the sheep. In her hurry, the Sheep ran into the door of Mouse's house, which broke. All of Mouse's stories ran out, and Mouse could not get them to come home. Now, all of the stories of earth roam up and down the land and all over.
-From the Ekoi people of Africa
The most interesting part of this story is the belief that all men, all cultures, share a common source for their primal stories. What I think is also interesting is the fact that the overall story makes no sense. The bit with Leopard and Sheep really play very little part in the bit with the Sheep and the Old Woman with the Juju. It's almost as if the belief in a common origin for stories (a pre-Tower of Babel world, perhaps?) remained, but the means of dispersion for them was lost to this culture. So, somewhere along the way, they made up an entirely different story. I can't prove this, of course, but it's just an observation.
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
It's the End of the World As We Know It: The Antichrist, Part 3
I realize that at the beginning of this series, I said it would be "quick." I also realize that it has not been "quick." I had no real intentions of misleading anyone, but I truly did not believe I would have to spend three posts on just the Antichrist (wait until we get to the Rapture! Ha ha! Just kidding.). However, it would be a great disservice to gloss over the Scriptures in an effort to give a quick summary of the Beast. Why? Because there is so much information out there - there is so much misinformation out there - that things can get really confusing if we're presented with a quick summary, and then left to wade through massive amounts of interpretation; it's how we end up becoming convinced that Jesus specifically named Barak Obama as the Antichrist.
With that being said, I want to wrap up this part of the series with a closer look at the personality of the Antichrist, as well the world religion that he enforces. And, yes, there is some speculation involved, due to the very nature of apocalyptic literature. Again, though, I'm trying to keep this speculation out of the realm of prediction, and more in the realm of recognition. This is not an exercise in naming the Antichrist, but a record for posterity, so that when he arises, people can see it. Remember: there is a resurrection ahead, and it is by this, I believe, we can truly know who the Beast is. Because a lot of the characteristics we're going to look at in this post can easily be applied to Obama. Or the Pope. Or the French President.
Or the Queen of England.
Or John F. Kennedy.
Or Hitler.
But none of these people have been killed by a fatal sword wound to the head (bullet, yes; sword, no), and none of them have died and been resurrected. At least not yet. I truly do not believe we can point to anyone today and say, "This is him." I do believe, however, that when the events begin to unfold, we will be able to look at those events and say, "Now, this is him."
To be fair, Jesus did tell us to watch and be ready:
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect him (Matthew 24:42).
When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains . . . So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time (Mark 13:14; 23).
"Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him (Luke 12:35-40).
He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near . . . For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:29-31; 35-36).
What I don't believe Jesus meant by "watch" was for us to stand in the middle of the street and stare at the sky all day. He clearly gives us signs to watch for (e.g., Matthew 24-25; Mark 13). However, I don't think that is for us to spend our time trying to "solve a puzzle." Jesus' final command in Matthew 28 and Acts 1 is to be His witnesses: witnesses to His life, death, and resurrection; witnesses to how He has changed our lives. It is not to sit at our computers and scour the internet for the latest "Could-CERN-be-the-opening-of-the-Abyss-in-Revelation-Nine" theory. Part of the above passages that I didn't include involved Jesus telling His disciples that the servants who are busy doing their work when the master returns are the good, honest, and elected servants. Those who are wasting their lives doing nothing because they don't take the master of the house seriously will be cast out with the unbelievers. Jesus' point in giving these signs - even the ones in Revelation - are not for us to sit around and try to predict what's coming next. Rather, they were for us to be able to see and say, "Yep, this is what He talked about, so His return must be soon."
Look, I've had to repent of trying to "figure things out" myself; I've gotten caught up in it, too. But the Scriptures are not given to us in order that we may focus on the world, but on Christ. And, truthfully, that's the point of the book of Revelation. We'll see in a few posts that things get bad on earth. We've already seen that things get bad. But the common thread throughout the book is that, no matter how bad things get, God is still God, and Jesus wins.
And the Beast is not Jesus, though he very well may claim to be.
Jesus says that many will come, claiming to be Him, and over the years we've seen a few. But there will come a time when someone resurrects from the dead and begins a faith of self-worship. He appoints a prophet to perform miraculous signs, he has an idol built in his image that also performs miraculous signs. It is probably not a stretch to say that he will claim to be the long-awaited Messiah.
Do not believe him, for his claims are built on lies and deceptions:
[The angel] gave me this explanation: . . . The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most high and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time (Daniel 7:23; 24-25).
While it's unclear what "the set times and the laws" specifically refer to, the gist is clear: he will attempt to change the very nature of life. He will, at the same time, by the way, also be committing genocide.
The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.
Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of His sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground . . . In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes (Daniel 8:8-12; 23-25).
Notice the arrogance. Notice the lies. Notice that, once people begin to feel secure under his reign, he turns and destroys many.
The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods . . . He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price (Daniel 11:36; 37-39).
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for [the Day of the Lord] will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
"The king will do as he pleases," sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship. He'll also destroy you if you don't worship him (yep, dictator) He will be a self-worshiping, murderous, arrogant, prideful, Satanically-empowered dictator. Do not fall for his lies, do not buy into his religion, no matter how impressive he may seem. I'm telling you right now so you can identify him when he shows up: he will come back from the dead.
But he is not God, and there is only one Messiah. He will set himself up as such, but he is not. Wait, you may ask, Jesus set himself up as God, and he supposedly "rose from the dead," so what's the difference?
Jesus never forces anyone to worship Him. He invites: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
He loves: "No one will die for a good man, though for a righteous man, some might possibly die. But God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8).
The same cannot be said for the Beast. Let's take a closer look at the religion and world government that the Beast institutes.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the
sword,
with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:1-11).
We've seen the arrival of the first beast, but now we see the arrival of a second beast. The "two horns like a lamb" indicate an appearance of innocence - perhaps even holiness - but his words are lies coming straight from Satan ("like a dragon").
He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men (13:12-13).
His fire trick is not an illusion. It's not some sort of Chris Angel-like camera trick (you do know that Angel uses mostly camera tricks, right?). It's a supernatural event that convinces people to worship the Beast.
Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed (13:14-15).
Idolatry. Most people today (Hindus and Buddhists excluded) would scoff at the idea of worshiping a statue. But idolatry has been around for centuries, and it hasn't truly gone anywhere. There is no real reason to think it can't make an even bigger comeback. In fact, we're told it will. And we're also told that failure to worship this image receives the death penalty.
If you don't convert - from your Buddhism, your Hinduism, your atheism, your Scientology, your Islam, your Judaism, your Catholicism, your Protestantism - you die. That's the kind of "peaceful messiah" the world is going to deal with.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls [see Revelation 16] came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and with the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished (Revelation 17:1-6).
Greatly astonished is right. Pretty weird stuff, eh? A whore on a beast. She's drunk with blood. She's obviously wealthy (business is good, I guess). Kings of the earth sleep with her, and everyone else gets drunk off of the blood in her cup. On the surface, this is gruesome and . . . baffling. Now, fortunately, the rest of the chapter goes into more detail for us, but for now, let's just look at the Old Testament for a second.
Throughout the Old Testament, idolatry is equated with prostitution. In Exodus 34, God tells Israel not to marry with the nations around her, because they will "prostitute themselves to their gods" (34:15-16).
In Ezekiel, God compares the nation of Israel to a woman who prostitutes herself to "male idols" (Ezekiel 16). Yes, you are interpreting that correctly. In chapter 23, He compares the two kingdoms of Israel to young girls who allowed "their breasts [to be] fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed" (23).
The book of Hosea, which tells of Hosea's marriage to an adulterous wife, acts as an allegory for God's relationship with his idolatrous Israel. In chapter 3, God even tells Hosea, "'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes'" (3:1, and, sorry, I'm not going into "the sacred raisin cakes" right now). There are other examples, and even in the New Testament, idolatry and temple prostitution were sometimes connected (e.g., I Corinthians).
For John to use this image of a prostitute on a beast, he is undoubtedly referring to a religion of idolatry. Couple this with the fact that her nature is a "mystery" [which probably refers to the "mystery religions" of ancient (and modern-day) cultures], and her title is Babylon the Great (see Daniel 3), John is no doubt referring to the religion we read about earlier in chapter 13. At the time, however, he had no idea what he was seeing.
Luckily for him (and us), it's explained:
Then the angel said to me, "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers."
Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (17:7-18).
Okay, so maybe "explained" is too strong of a word. Defined is a more appropriate word, I suppose. Now, I'm going to have to speculate some, but I'll try to remain as close to the text as possible.
First, it seems a fairly safe assumption that the beast the woman rides is the same beast in Revelation 13. Both have ten horns, both have seven heads, and this beast "once was, now is not, and yet will come," while the beast in chapter 13 had a fatal wound that was healed. Also, in both cases, the world is astonished at these beasts, and follows them. So while John does not explicitly state that they are one and the same, I think it's fairly safe to assume that they are.
One thing of interest to note is that the beast has seven heads, which stand for the "seven hills upon which the woman sits." Most scholars believe this refers to Rome, because Rome has long been referred to as "The City on the Seven Hills." To be fair, there is also a city in Ohio that has the same name, but I doubt Ohio will be the headquarters of the Antichrist and his false religion.
I could be wrong.
According to some, the city itself is called "Babylon the Great." While Babylon was a city, it was also a nation and an empire. Revelation 17 also connects the name, not with a specific city, but with the prostitute, or false religion. Let's be clear: she is called "Babylon the Great," but she sits on the City of the Seven Hills. Go back and reread the whole chapter if you need to.
Now that you've done that, you'll notice something. The last verse calls her "the city." And you thought understanding this would be easy. . . .
This has caused lots of people to speculate that the ancient city of Babylon will be rebuilt (in fact, Saddam Hussein was actively rebuilding the ruins during his reign). But here's the thing: Babylon doesn't sit on seven hills, nor has it ever been called "The City on the Seven Hills." Rome, on the other hand, does sit on seven hills. And while the prostitute does represent a city, her nature is one of an idolatrous religion full of greed, opulence, and violence, as we've already seen. So while she represents a city, and her name is "Babylon the Great," I don't think that's meant to be the name of the city. Rather, the city is Rome, but it's very heart is a callback to the occult religions of Ancient Babylon, most notably idolatry. This makes sense in light of the "image of the beast" set up in Revelation 13. Again, though, keep in mind that this is speculation, and Babylon could be rebuilt (but then we still have the Seven Hills Problem, so . . . no).
All of this has led some to speculate that "Rome" actually refers to The Vatican, and that Catholicism will morph into an openly Satanic, occult religion whose "savior" is the Beast. There's some circumstantial evidence, to be sure. The Pope, for one, has taken a solemn charge to uphold the Scriptures, and yet he undermines them at every opportunity. Part of Babylonian religion involved sun-worship, and the sun is an image found throughout a vast majority of the Vatican. The last thing we need, however, is an anti-Catholic crusade, so hear me well: I certainly disagree with Catholicism on more than one issue, I certainly disagree with Pope Francis on just about every issue, and the Vatican may very well be a large part of this New World Order/Antichrist system that is coming.
But we don't know that. Not for certain.
So please don't begin persecuting Catholics because you think they may be secret Satanists. Please don't burn down local Catholic churches because you want to stop the Mystery Religion of Revelation. It's not our job to persecute, and we can't stop this from happening. It is our job to be and to make disciples of Jesus. There are many in the Catholic Church who love Jesus. They may have some heretical theology, but we all have some of that to varying degrees. If you have Catholic friends who love Jesus but have some "off" beliefs about the Scriptures, do you know what you should do?
Disciple them.
Not sure if some of your beliefs are Scriptural?
Be a disciple.
Certain that all of your beliefs are Scriptural?
Be a disciple, anyway.
Our job as believers is not to look down on the world, but to reach down and lead them to Jesus. I don't care if your friends and family are atheists, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Protestants, or even fellow disciples, our job is twofold: to follow Jesus, and point to Him with everything in our lives in order that others may follow Him, too. This is the essence of the Great Commission, and the core of Jesus' last words to His disciples: "And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
With that being said, I want to wrap up this part of the series with a closer look at the personality of the Antichrist, as well the world religion that he enforces. And, yes, there is some speculation involved, due to the very nature of apocalyptic literature. Again, though, I'm trying to keep this speculation out of the realm of prediction, and more in the realm of recognition. This is not an exercise in naming the Antichrist, but a record for posterity, so that when he arises, people can see it. Remember: there is a resurrection ahead, and it is by this, I believe, we can truly know who the Beast is. Because a lot of the characteristics we're going to look at in this post can easily be applied to Obama. Or the Pope. Or the French President.
Or the Queen of England.
Or John F. Kennedy.
Or Hitler.
But none of these people have been killed by a fatal sword wound to the head (bullet, yes; sword, no), and none of them have died and been resurrected. At least not yet. I truly do not believe we can point to anyone today and say, "This is him." I do believe, however, that when the events begin to unfold, we will be able to look at those events and say, "Now, this is him."
To be fair, Jesus did tell us to watch and be ready:
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you must also be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect him (Matthew 24:42).
When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains . . . So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time (Mark 13:14; 23).
"Be dressed and ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him (Luke 12:35-40).
He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near . . . For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:29-31; 35-36).
What I don't believe Jesus meant by "watch" was for us to stand in the middle of the street and stare at the sky all day. He clearly gives us signs to watch for (e.g., Matthew 24-25; Mark 13). However, I don't think that is for us to spend our time trying to "solve a puzzle." Jesus' final command in Matthew 28 and Acts 1 is to be His witnesses: witnesses to His life, death, and resurrection; witnesses to how He has changed our lives. It is not to sit at our computers and scour the internet for the latest "Could-CERN-be-the-opening-of-the-Abyss-in-Revelation-Nine" theory. Part of the above passages that I didn't include involved Jesus telling His disciples that the servants who are busy doing their work when the master returns are the good, honest, and elected servants. Those who are wasting their lives doing nothing because they don't take the master of the house seriously will be cast out with the unbelievers. Jesus' point in giving these signs - even the ones in Revelation - are not for us to sit around and try to predict what's coming next. Rather, they were for us to be able to see and say, "Yep, this is what He talked about, so His return must be soon."
Look, I've had to repent of trying to "figure things out" myself; I've gotten caught up in it, too. But the Scriptures are not given to us in order that we may focus on the world, but on Christ. And, truthfully, that's the point of the book of Revelation. We'll see in a few posts that things get bad on earth. We've already seen that things get bad. But the common thread throughout the book is that, no matter how bad things get, God is still God, and Jesus wins.
And the Beast is not Jesus, though he very well may claim to be.
Jesus says that many will come, claiming to be Him, and over the years we've seen a few. But there will come a time when someone resurrects from the dead and begins a faith of self-worship. He appoints a prophet to perform miraculous signs, he has an idol built in his image that also performs miraculous signs. It is probably not a stretch to say that he will claim to be the long-awaited Messiah.
Do not believe him, for his claims are built on lies and deceptions:
[The angel] gave me this explanation: . . . The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most high and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time (Daniel 7:23; 24-25).
While it's unclear what "the set times and the laws" specifically refer to, the gist is clear: he will attempt to change the very nature of life. He will, at the same time, by the way, also be committing genocide.
The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.
Out of one of them came another horn, which started small but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land. It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them. It set itself up as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of His sanctuary was brought low. Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground . . . In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes (Daniel 8:8-12; 23-25).
Notice the arrogance. Notice the lies. Notice that, once people begin to feel secure under his reign, he turns and destroys many.
The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods . . . He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price (Daniel 11:36; 37-39).
Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for [the Day of the Lord] will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
"The king will do as he pleases," sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship. He'll also destroy you if you don't worship him (yep, dictator) He will be a self-worshiping, murderous, arrogant, prideful, Satanically-empowered dictator. Do not fall for his lies, do not buy into his religion, no matter how impressive he may seem. I'm telling you right now so you can identify him when he shows up: he will come back from the dead.
But he is not God, and there is only one Messiah. He will set himself up as such, but he is not. Wait, you may ask, Jesus set himself up as God, and he supposedly "rose from the dead," so what's the difference?
Jesus never forces anyone to worship Him. He invites: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
He loves: "No one will die for a good man, though for a righteous man, some might possibly die. But God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8).
The same cannot be said for the Beast. Let's take a closer look at the religion and world government that the Beast institutes.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?"
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast - all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
He who has an ear, let him hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the
sword,
with the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:1-11).
We've seen the arrival of the first beast, but now we see the arrival of a second beast. The "two horns like a lamb" indicate an appearance of innocence - perhaps even holiness - but his words are lies coming straight from Satan ("like a dragon").
He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men (13:12-13).
His fire trick is not an illusion. It's not some sort of Chris Angel-like camera trick (you do know that Angel uses mostly camera tricks, right?). It's a supernatural event that convinces people to worship the Beast.
Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed (13:14-15).
Idolatry. Most people today (Hindus and Buddhists excluded) would scoff at the idea of worshiping a statue. But idolatry has been around for centuries, and it hasn't truly gone anywhere. There is no real reason to think it can't make an even bigger comeback. In fact, we're told it will. And we're also told that failure to worship this image receives the death penalty.
If you don't convert - from your Buddhism, your Hinduism, your atheism, your Scientology, your Islam, your Judaism, your Catholicism, your Protestantism - you die. That's the kind of "peaceful messiah" the world is going to deal with.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls [see Revelation 16] came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and with the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
When I saw her, I was greatly astonished (Revelation 17:1-6).
Greatly astonished is right. Pretty weird stuff, eh? A whore on a beast. She's drunk with blood. She's obviously wealthy (business is good, I guess). Kings of the earth sleep with her, and everyone else gets drunk off of the blood in her cup. On the surface, this is gruesome and . . . baffling. Now, fortunately, the rest of the chapter goes into more detail for us, but for now, let's just look at the Old Testament for a second.
Throughout the Old Testament, idolatry is equated with prostitution. In Exodus 34, God tells Israel not to marry with the nations around her, because they will "prostitute themselves to their gods" (34:15-16).
In Ezekiel, God compares the nation of Israel to a woman who prostitutes herself to "male idols" (Ezekiel 16). Yes, you are interpreting that correctly. In chapter 23, He compares the two kingdoms of Israel to young girls who allowed "their breasts [to be] fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed" (23).
The book of Hosea, which tells of Hosea's marriage to an adulterous wife, acts as an allegory for God's relationship with his idolatrous Israel. In chapter 3, God even tells Hosea, "'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes'" (3:1, and, sorry, I'm not going into "the sacred raisin cakes" right now). There are other examples, and even in the New Testament, idolatry and temple prostitution were sometimes connected (e.g., I Corinthians).
For John to use this image of a prostitute on a beast, he is undoubtedly referring to a religion of idolatry. Couple this with the fact that her nature is a "mystery" [which probably refers to the "mystery religions" of ancient (and modern-day) cultures], and her title is Babylon the Great (see Daniel 3), John is no doubt referring to the religion we read about earlier in chapter 13. At the time, however, he had no idea what he was seeing.
Luckily for him (and us), it's explained:
Then the angel said to me, "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings - and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers."
Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth (17:7-18).
Okay, so maybe "explained" is too strong of a word. Defined is a more appropriate word, I suppose. Now, I'm going to have to speculate some, but I'll try to remain as close to the text as possible.
First, it seems a fairly safe assumption that the beast the woman rides is the same beast in Revelation 13. Both have ten horns, both have seven heads, and this beast "once was, now is not, and yet will come," while the beast in chapter 13 had a fatal wound that was healed. Also, in both cases, the world is astonished at these beasts, and follows them. So while John does not explicitly state that they are one and the same, I think it's fairly safe to assume that they are.
One thing of interest to note is that the beast has seven heads, which stand for the "seven hills upon which the woman sits." Most scholars believe this refers to Rome, because Rome has long been referred to as "The City on the Seven Hills." To be fair, there is also a city in Ohio that has the same name, but I doubt Ohio will be the headquarters of the Antichrist and his false religion.
I could be wrong.
According to some, the city itself is called "Babylon the Great." While Babylon was a city, it was also a nation and an empire. Revelation 17 also connects the name, not with a specific city, but with the prostitute, or false religion. Let's be clear: she is called "Babylon the Great," but she sits on the City of the Seven Hills. Go back and reread the whole chapter if you need to.
Now that you've done that, you'll notice something. The last verse calls her "the city." And you thought understanding this would be easy. . . .
This has caused lots of people to speculate that the ancient city of Babylon will be rebuilt (in fact, Saddam Hussein was actively rebuilding the ruins during his reign). But here's the thing: Babylon doesn't sit on seven hills, nor has it ever been called "The City on the Seven Hills." Rome, on the other hand, does sit on seven hills. And while the prostitute does represent a city, her nature is one of an idolatrous religion full of greed, opulence, and violence, as we've already seen. So while she represents a city, and her name is "Babylon the Great," I don't think that's meant to be the name of the city. Rather, the city is Rome, but it's very heart is a callback to the occult religions of Ancient Babylon, most notably idolatry. This makes sense in light of the "image of the beast" set up in Revelation 13. Again, though, keep in mind that this is speculation, and Babylon could be rebuilt (but then we still have the Seven Hills Problem, so . . . no).
All of this has led some to speculate that "Rome" actually refers to The Vatican, and that Catholicism will morph into an openly Satanic, occult religion whose "savior" is the Beast. There's some circumstantial evidence, to be sure. The Pope, for one, has taken a solemn charge to uphold the Scriptures, and yet he undermines them at every opportunity. Part of Babylonian religion involved sun-worship, and the sun is an image found throughout a vast majority of the Vatican. The last thing we need, however, is an anti-Catholic crusade, so hear me well: I certainly disagree with Catholicism on more than one issue, I certainly disagree with Pope Francis on just about every issue, and the Vatican may very well be a large part of this New World Order/Antichrist system that is coming.
But we don't know that. Not for certain.
So please don't begin persecuting Catholics because you think they may be secret Satanists. Please don't burn down local Catholic churches because you want to stop the Mystery Religion of Revelation. It's not our job to persecute, and we can't stop this from happening. It is our job to be and to make disciples of Jesus. There are many in the Catholic Church who love Jesus. They may have some heretical theology, but we all have some of that to varying degrees. If you have Catholic friends who love Jesus but have some "off" beliefs about the Scriptures, do you know what you should do?
Disciple them.
Not sure if some of your beliefs are Scriptural?
Be a disciple.
Certain that all of your beliefs are Scriptural?
Be a disciple, anyway.
Our job as believers is not to look down on the world, but to reach down and lead them to Jesus. I don't care if your friends and family are atheists, Muslims, Hindus, Catholics, Protestants, or even fellow disciples, our job is twofold: to follow Jesus, and point to Him with everything in our lives in order that others may follow Him, too. This is the essence of the Great Commission, and the core of Jesus' last words to His disciples: "And you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
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