Boobies, PeePee's, and Other Unspeakable Things ...

Most folks, particularly of the Christian variety, would like to think, that the scriptures say nothing about porn.  But they might.  Oh sure, in the time of Christ, there was no internet stocked full of free porn sites designed to lure the viewer into finding the kinds of things that might arouse interest; and stay, and deepen the interest by indulging in it with such regularity that perhaps new and even more unusual images might peak the interest on the next visit.  The foundational idea of porn is that variety is the core of arousal, monotony is the death of it.  So while in the time of Christ there was not this vast established infrastructure to support porn from a distribution point of view; there was still one constant, the mind and imagination of the men and women who fostered indulgent thinking behind a mask of upright and conscientious external appearances.  After all the imagination of a person can hide a great many thoughts, inappropriate ideas, and downright lusts, from our friends, family, and neighbors … but not from Jesus.

Yikes!  To think that Jesus is privy to our most intimate thoughts, and fully aware of every sexual idea that has crossed our minds from an age too young to consider it, to an age too old to act on it (minus perhaps a little blue pill), is embarrassing to say the least.  Generally, we think of our sexuality as private, as personal, a kind of no-one-else’s business perhaps including God.  Well more accurately, especially excluding God given the thoughts that float through our heads from time-to-time.  To think we are not living in as private a condition as our sin demands is un-nerving.  To consider the idea of openly including God in our sexuality is not something even most Christians are comfortable with.  But then, God created it, He understands it better than we ever will, so why exclude Him?  The idea that our sense of privacy inherently excludes God should give us an indication that our ideas are not lining up with His, or at least with what we have been taught about His ideas.

But before we can talk about where things went wrong we might consider the template of when things were first perfect.  Before sin.  Before the apple tasting when both of our original parents chose to break trust with God, there was the concept of male and female, and the partnership we refer to as marriage.  The original template however was something much deeper and more intimate, and more vulnerable, than the casual use we make of the word marriage in our modern day.  Eve was not just Adam’s helper, she was his everything, he was willing to let go of Eden and die rather than lose her.  He held nothing back from her.  Not thoughts, ideas, dreams … everything that could enter the mind of Adam was shared in perfection with the flesh of his flesh.  They both existed naked and unashamed, clothing was a by-product of sin.  Their physique’s were not a source of pride, or of lust, but of the beauty of the finger of God, and what He was able to sculpt from the dirt of our earth.

This was a relationship meant to last, meant to last forever, something eternal.  It was not time based, as other than the weekly practice of Sabbath time with our God (something they both looked forward to in a special way, also created before sin), marriage was an eternal construct.  This marriage was literally the anti-matter of porn.  Variety is not God’s idea of what is needed for sexual expression, rather continuity is, intimacy is.  Sexual expression was meant to be so personal, so intense, that only one other person could ever come to know you as deeply across every facet of your life, as to understand you in this way this well.  Security in knowing you belonged to a partner who was literally the other half of your life, brought a foundation to how you lived, that words could scarcely summarize into the term marriage or monogamy. 

Unity to nearly the point of sharing molecules, was the idea that went into a marriage meant to last in forever kinds of terms.  There would be no boredom.  For how could boredom dare survive the imagination of minds not encumbered with self-love, or the limits we place upon ourselves.  A pure service to others, in this case our spouse, was an effort that would occupy the imagination and the senses.  Creating joy for another was the full-time dedication of our existence, that would have neither end, nor limitations in its expression.  Purity, and complete dedication, innocence, and no plans to change it.   This is how marriage began, and how it was intended to last.  Never even a thought of having it end, or distracting it with something else.  No need.  Once perfection is attained, anything else is by definition, less. 

Had sin never emerged, there would be no divorce.  When sin is put to an end, divorce will be consumed with it, but marriage will not.  It will return to the state it was intended to be in, it’s original purist form between those who God heals for it.  Perhaps not all of us, perhaps so.  But what sin can damage, our Lord can remake, and repair.  This is the entire point of salvation itself.  Transformation is more than what happens within us, it is what happens to return institutions created before sin, to their original state, and perhaps us with them on an eternal basis.

Comparing that, to what we call marriage, is comparing brilliant light, to shadows in darkness.  We hardly have even the reflection of what was originally intended.  But we try.  And over time our ideas about marriage come to include a multiplicity that by definition must spoil the intimacy that God intended.  Multiplicity entertained by ancient Israel, fed only the self-love of men, at the expense of women, and to the detriment of what they still called marriage.  And over time our ideas then included the notion, of a do-over, of making a different decision about what forever means as we apply it to spouses.  Enter divorce.  Divorce too, was most often employed by men to cast aside women they no longer loved or wanted, in favor of something else.  The idea of starting over was never meant to be cast in this context, but self-love and selfishness can find a way to rationalize a great many things.  So it did.  Over time, our ideas about marriage had made it more contractual, subject to the tools of legal application, than a level of intimacy that would wish no deterrent. 

And Jesus enters the stage.  How sad He must of have been to witness the institution He created for the joy of mankind, twisted until it was a tool of Satan to destroy the entire creation of mankind.  Porn is only the external manifestation of what can exist within the heart of men and women, who do not understand why the continuity of intimacy is so much better.  Jesus sees what we have done to marriage, and how we butcher the term, and the application.  So He is driven to speak out.  Matthew records what Jesus had to say about our ideas of sexual expression in his gospel in chapter five and picking up in verse 27 he quotes Jesus saying … “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: [verse 28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”

At this point not only are our motives made equal to our actions in the sight of God, now we can add “how” we look and think about a woman (or man if you are a woman).  To entertain the idea of what any form of sexual expression might be like with another person, even if only in the mind’s eye, has become the definition of lust.  It does not matter if the woman has contributed to this problem, by removing her clothing, taking an alluring pose, and offering a receptive look on the pages of a porn site; or whether she is appropriately modest and attempting no such ideas.  The state of the woman is not in question.  The reaction of the man is.  That the man would seek out women to visualize in this manner, has only to warp his imagination, and further promote the idea that women are mere biological objects, not people to be cherished.

To see, to imagine, to entertain the notion of variety, is to embrace porn and destroy marriage or our ability to enjoy it, through the corruption of sin.  We warp our thinking until intimacy is a long-lost casualty, and aggression is a close ally.  In those where intimacy has been decimated, a hunt begins, to find the next object we can perform our acts of biology upon.  The object of our expression becomes nothing more to us than a sack of meat.  What kind of meat begins to matter less and less, only that variety is maintained, and emotional attachment is never considered from the acts we perform.  There is no limit to what derangement may follow.  “Normal” is truly a subjective concept absent an external point of morality, such as the original template of marriage, or the Law of God that would sustain it, by reflecting back to us “who” we truly love.

The idea that these thoughts lead nowhere was put to rest immediately by Jesus as He continues in verse 29 saying … “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. [verse 30] And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”  As men we are prone to visualization, though this is not completely in the province of men.  As humans, what we see influences what we think.  And most men take action (very often with their right hands) when considering what they have seen with their eyes, and have come to imagine in their minds.  Jesus points out here that choosing to focus on these things, and enact our lust, even if only on a “personal” basis, leads to a point where humans are sacks of meat, and God is an inhibitor of me making me happy.  Forget salvation, give me the here and now in a lust that has no abandon.  That degenerative path begins in the mind, and finds action in the hands.  And you thought porn was not mentioned in scripture.

Jesus continues in verse 31 saying … “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: [verse 32] But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.”  What Jesus describes here is a sequence of events, not a justification for divorce.  The sins listed are fornication and adultery, which both are effectively sex outside the confines of marriage.  Divorcing your wife, because you changed your mind, does not break the marriage vow from heaven’s point of view.  It takes greater sin to do that.  Abuse would do it.  Sexual promiscuity would do it.  But because you have changed your mind over time, is not enough to get it done.  So, just handing her a paper of divorce, makes the next man who attempts to marry her, an effective adulterer with her as the first bond still holds in the eyes of heaven.  By the way, it does not free the man to remarry either, he and his new wife also become nothing more than adulterers, not truly husband and wife.

This is not meant to be a legal clinic on divorce by Jesus Christ.  It is meant to reset our thinking on just what vowing forever means.  It is not something we should treat so lightly.  God can mend hearts, and put love there, when no love exists.  It is rather His specialty.  So marriages that might otherwise seem to have gone dead can be resurrected, when we are willing to put Jesus Christ back into them.  Even back into an otherwise dead sex life.  The true author of sex knows how to revive and remake a sex life that would stand the test of eternity.  He just needs your permission to do it.  It may involve re-teaching you everything you thought you knew.  From how you think about people generally, to how to make someone else happy during sex, never for a moment thinking about “your” needs.  Consider for a moment, in marriages following the original template, neither person is thinking about self, both are only obsessed with thinking of the other partner.  And the let fireworks begin to fly.

While we have twisted horribly the idea of marriage in our world, allowing Jesus to transform us, allows Jesus to transform what our marriages can be like.  They too, can begin to see radical improvement in the here and now.  What once seemed dead on the vine, can be resurrected and become so important to the two participants that life itself could not be imagined without the blessing of the marriage they have after Jesus.  It is long past due for porn to die in our thinking.  Not just our incessant visitation of sites on the internet when we think no one will catch us; but instead the notion that variety itself is better than the continuity of intimacy. 

Variety is not the spice of life where it comes to sex, it is the death of happiness.  Variety, and our quest to achieve it, births only pain to those we love, those who love us, and the circles of lives it reverberates through.  That is not increasing our fun, that is killing it.  But true transformation, where we submit even our sexual expression and desires to Jesus Christ, does not result in the death of sex.  But instead in a re-vitalization of a sex life that is based on self-less-ness and singularity.  It puts our sex life on a path ever upward, ever more interesting, ever more a gift to the singular partner who means more than life to us.  Only then does our imagination begin to consider what else could bring true joy to a partner we cherish.  Only when we allow Jesus to remain a part of our marriage and of our sex life, can we keep it free from sin, and on the course heaven would wish for us both.

And this same sermon was not over yet …

 

Perfected Marriage ...

Who will win the next SuperBowl is an annual topic of conversation in early January.  The answer of course is … “advertisers”.  It is said as many people tune in to see the game, as to watch the commercials presented during it.  It is one of the last “live” events on television where folks prefer NOT to use the DVR to avoid the ads, instead they want to enjoy it “live” with friends and family.  But to have a SuperBowl there has to be a fundamental understanding of the game, and how the game works.  Each team will attempt to win the game within the rules, using strategies they have practiced with each other within the rules.  Without this shared fundamental understanding of how the game of football is supposed to work, the SuperBowl looks a lot more like the PuppyBowl.  Imagine if the players entered the field, and when the ball was snapped, everybody just took off running in every direction both offense and defense into the stands, leaving the ball dropped where it was, and emptying the field completely.  This kind of nonsense would destroy the game of football pretty quick, in fact it would destroy any team sport.  And after 6,000 years of practicing marriage, that is precisely where we find ourselves, lacking a complete understanding of the fundamentals of the game.  We have left the ball on the field, and are running in every direction.  But this is something we could correct, if we could just listen to what marriage was all about … this time from its Author.

As it turns out, problems in marriage is not a new phenomenon to our day in age.  They date back quite a while (husbands might joke to the advent of women).  But Peter and the folks who lived in his day, had just as many questions, and appeared to lack knowledge just as much as us, about the fundamentals of the game.  So of course, the Pharisees decided this was a topic they could question Christ about, and “prove” He was not really the Messiah.  You see if Jesus got just one answer wrong, He would lose the game, and the people would stop listening to Him.  So periodically throughout His ministry, the Pharisees and Scribes would attempt to pick one of those “no win” questions to ask Christ.  No matter which choice He would pick, the answer could be proven wrong by them.  They continually setup choices for Jesus, either A or B, and whichever one He would pick, He would lose.  The problem for them of course, was that Jesus continued to answer in a way that expanded their knowledge of the law, and was neither A or B, but something entirely better.  And it was the Pharisees who would lose.

Peter begins relaying just such an incident to John Mark who transcribes it in his Gospel of Mark picking up in the tenth chapter in verse one saying … “And he arose from thence, and cometh into the coasts of Judaea by the farther side of Jordan: and the people resort unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.”  Jesus had moved very close to the territory of the Temple headquarters.  He had brought His visiting team on to home field of the Pharisees.  And as usual, the people came to see Him in droves.  It was no small irony that Jesus picked the place on the far side of the Jordan, where not too long ago, John the Baptist’s voice could be heard there bellowing to repent.  John the Baptist was considered no friend of the Pharisees either, calling them out publicly for their hypocrisy.  So this affront of Jesus “stealing” the attention of the people could not go unanswered.

Mark continues in verse 2 saying … “And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.”  The games had begun.  The Pharisees had asked Jesus a Yes or No question, they were not looking for a sermon, or to give Him a chance to expound upon an answer.  This is the reason why Peter specifically told John Mark this was a way for the Pharisees to be “tempting Him”.  If Jesus said yes, then the Pharisees could decry Jesus as being the “destroyer” of the family unit, and could persuade the people to listen no longer.  If Jesus said no, then the Pharisees could decry Jesus as not being practical, or in alignment with their traditions and laws.  Either way, they were set to pounce.  But Jesus would not so easily be drawn into this trap, instead He had in mind to teach them, and all in attendance something much deeper about marriage itself.  First, Jesus must examine them to determine where the state of marriage was in this time.

John Mark continues transcribing in verse 3 saying … “And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?”  Moses was the defacto “hero” of the Pharisees.  They used and misused everything Moses had ever said or done or written, to their own benefit.  So in asking them a question rooted in their hero, Jesus gets them to commit to where their own hearts were in this day, and the answer they would prefer it were up to them.  The Pharisees answer in verse 4 saying … “And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.”  Moses had indeed established this ability for the dissolution of marriage.  But in the days of Moses, or in the days of the Pharisees, or in ours, this was never supposed to be first option executed the first time 2 people discovered they did not agree on something.  However, that is what it had degenerated to in the time of the Pharisees and in ours.  There was no stigma in obtaining a divorce in the time of the Pharisees or in ours, it was rather a simple legal matter than anyone to seek and obtain with minimal personal inconvenience.  It was and is as easy as buying or selling property.  No one gave it a second thought.  If you wanted one you got one, period.  But this state of marriage reveals a fundamental lack of knowledge of what marriage really is. 

Jesus responds in verse 5 saying … “And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.”  Divorce, as it turns out, is NOT a pre-creation or before-the-fall concept.  It was NOT considered pre-sin, only post-sin.  Divorce is a recognition of the effect of sin on and within a marriage, it was a necessity because of the damage sin can cause, from abuse, to infidelity, to a lack of commitment, to disagreements we have not the patience to resolve with self-sacrifice.  This is why Moses recognized the “need” for an escape clause in marriage.  Women were not meant to be killed in the name of preserving their marriages.  And there are a host of legitimate reasons why divorce may be needed in our age, or in any age, but ALL of them fundamentally begin with either one party or the other, engaged in a sin of some sort.  Unrepentant sin is the hardest of all to endure in a marriage.  And each party has to decide how much they can endure, before separation through divorce simply makes more sense.  But if the hard-truth of Divorce is that it is a post-sin reality, that means Marriage is a pre-sin reality with no thought of divorce.

Thus Jesus begins His lesson about the fundamentals of marriage we have all forgotten in verse 6 saying … “But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.”  This is our Creator talking.  This is our God talking.  It was His choice to make not only our species, but nearly every species into the categories of male and female.  He did NOT have to do this, He chose to do this, by design.  He chose to do this with an eye to eternity.  This was NOT a result of our sin, unlike Divorce which recognizes the reality of the impact of sin upon us, our original structural design was “created” both male and female.  We were none of us meant to be alone.  We were all of us meant to have a companion that is not exactly like us, but like a jigsaw puzzle, compliments us, supports us, becomes the better half of who we are.  This entire phenomenon was established in our creation and in our design.  It was done this way prior to sin, not as a result of it.

Jesus continues in verse 7 saying … “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;”  Family units of old tended to stay together for nearly every reason.  Oh sure, in our age, children may go away to school, and strike out on their own in new jobs, but even so, they remain our babies.  But for ONE reason alone, do the children eventually really leave the nest since creation; for the sake of Marriage, which forms the fundamental basis of creating a NEW family unit.  I am my father’s son, and my mother’s son, UNTIL I am starting a family unit of my own, the point at which I am committing to be my wife’s husband.  At this point, my wife and the commitment we will share supersedes all other commitments even other familial ones.  At this point there is no such thing as momma’s boy or daddy’s girl, only husband and wife.  This is our Creator talking again.  It is our Creator, who is stating, that for the sake of marriage, we would leave behind our families, and “cleave” to our spouse.  Even the word cleave, implies a cutting away of the older heartstrings, to establish the newer ones.  This is our Creator establishing the priority of who we love in our lives.  Our spouse becomes THE most important person we will ever love, even more than we will love our own children.  The reason then must be something we have missed.

Jesus continues in verse 8 saying … “And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.”  There is something more here than the mechanics of sexual expression.  There is something far deeper and something that speaks to the fundamentals of the game.  In the ultimate act of intimacy between husband and wife is formed the physical manifestation of becoming “one”.  In this, we lose our identity of self, willingly joining it, to the identity of us as one unit.  I am no longer me, a half of who I used to be.  I am now only complete when I am we, established, rooted, and grounded as a whole, only when you consider my wife who comprises my better half.  When you look at her, you should see me there as well, bound to her, part of her.  Each of us inseparable to the other because we no longer think in terms of one being, but of two joined to be one.  To hurt her, is to destroy me.  To injure me, is to wound her.  We react as one, we unite as one, we have the same goals.  Our individual strengths are lent to the unit of one who we become.  Our individual weaknesses are covered by the one who has chosen to join with us.  One flesh, is not something that happens a few times a week, late at night, when both of you can find the time.  It is something that changes who you are, to the core of you.  It is a commitment to change who you are, by accepting your other half and integrating it into your very soul.

In the physical act or the singular union, where two consent to become one, is ONLY where the act of pro-creation can occur.  We are created in the image of our God, with imaginations of our own, with creativity of our own, with artistry.  We can make great contributions to our world and our society unleashing the gifts we have been given alone throughout our lives.  But our very existence can only occur, when two have consented to become one.  The act of bringing another new life into the universe was meant for us to share with our God.  We pro-create and borrow the elements needed from two humans to form a new one.  The formation of that new life will take time, and care, and sometimes may not reach its true human potential (either before birth or after it).  But it cannot begin, it cannot be instantiated without the materials required from the union of two becoming one.  In the process of a union this close, is born the joyful act of pro-creating a new life.  It was intended to be a three-way partnership with our God.  It was meant to draw our eyes back to Him, and to teach us the love of a parent, so much like the love He has for each of us.

Marriage is about as much a contract about property rights, as the library of Congress is about a single book.  This is the part of the fundamentals we have lost, an understanding about just how deep our choice will go into who we are.  The kind of intimacy our Creator is talking about is where two individuals become one family unit, just like He is with His Father.  They are One, yet separate and distinct entities. They choose to be One, of like mind, and of like goals, yet different.  They form our One God, yet we know them to be three entities.  In our marriage we are two entities, separate and distinct, but in our choice to wed, we are giving up half of ourselves to make room for our new half.  We are no longer referring to ourselves in a singular reference, because we are no longer singular, but plural.  In this context, there is no such thing as my money, or her money, there is only our money; which should be used for the benefit of the one I love most.  In this context, there is no such thing as a decision over which I should exert authority because of my preference.  I have no preference, but that which is ours.  In this context, there is no disunion between mom and dad where junior is concerned, her word is my word, and my word is her word.

The level of intimacy described here is a joining of minds far deeper than one we have ever considered before.  It is a sacrifice of self, far deeper than we have ever pondered before.  It is a union much closer than we have ever pondered before.  If what our Creator describes was the union Adam and Eve experienced before sin, and though scarred even after sin; do we imagine for a moment that Adam would have considered wanting a Divorce from Eve because life was hard?  He gave up perfection for Eve.  He broke trust with God over Eve, because she was so much a part of who he was.  When she died, he would look for no other replacement “spouse” because in his thinking death was not a get out of jail free card, it was a momentary delay before they could be reunited again.  The marriage of Adam and Eve was meant to be eternal.  The institution of marriage was meant to be eternal.  Divorce will one day pass away, as will all sin, but marriage was pre-sin, and will stand.  Consider what our Creator has to say about it …

Jesus continues in verse 9 saying … “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”  Marriage or the joining of two into one was something God established, what our Creator did for us, as evidenced by our very design, in male and female entities.  Let not man put asunder, or in other words, let not man think he is able to so casually mess it up.  There is no time constraint on this.  If marriage were an obsolete concept Jesus could have told us that.  If marriage too, were only valid in this world, and needed due to sin, Jesus could have told us that too.  He did not.  He did not lump in marriage with the need for divorce.  Instead, He puts the eternal stamp of God on it.  Marriage or the joining of two people into a single unit, was meant to be something that lasts beyond sin, beyond this world.  In that case, the death of my better half, is not a valid reason to seek another replacement unit.  The weakness of mankind may necessitate this, but the intent of marriage did not.  Death is a momentary interruption from my proximity to the half of me that was torn away, it is NOT the dissolution of my marriage.

What man has put asunder is staggering.  Because we treat marriage so casually as only a sex partner, and equity partner, we divorce and remarry like breathing.  But in so doing, we have never really married.  We have agreed to share some portions of our lives, but never agreed to let go the half of who we are, to become blended with someone else.  To adopt their likes and preferences, to share who we are to the point of blending souls, thinking as one, loving as one, living as one.  Instead our society (and the enemy who fosters it), teaches us to maintain our identity, never sacrificing it for ANYONE, not husband or wife.  Our society would have us leave our families and go on journeys to find out who we are.  Our society would have us destroy intimacy in the name of self-reliance.  But to sacrifice to another person so wholly that nothing is withheld, to love so deeply that another is always first in our eyes, to think of another person as the part of ourselves that makes us better, makes us complete – this is the ideas of marriage our Creator had in mind.  And He had them in mind on an eternal basis, not just a temporary one.  It is our weakness that introduced the need for replacements.  It is because we do not truly become one flesh in the core of who we are, that we maintain the idea of 2 people with 2 distinct persona’s sharing only for a while what is convenient to share.

But this lesson was not quite over.  John Mark continues in verse 10 saying … “And in the house his disciples asked him again of the same matter. [verse 11] And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. [verse 12] And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.”  The laws in the days of the Pharisees were treating something so intimate as something very casual (sound familiar).  What Jesus explains to his disciples later on this topic, is that one cannot make this kind of commitment and just later casually change your mind about it.  One who has known this level of intimacy cannot walk away from it and just find another partner.  Whether woman or man, the mechanics of sex with someone else, forms the basis for adultery.  The intimacy that marriage intends is not a casual, multiple choice kind of scenario.  It is a one time, no room for anybody else scenario.  It is a reformation of who we are to become blended with another, that is not something easily redone.

When we reach heaven our Creator will have put right, the scenarios our sin and our weakness have put asunder.  Our Creator will have to heal the hearts of those that are split, and broken, and betrayed.  The establishment of marriage, though wounded by man, has not been destroyed entirely by us, or our sin.  It simply needs a restoration that our Creator is capable of both here, and in the world to come.  Those who believe they love more than one love, can find joy in loving only the one our Creator would have us love.  Our design is not being altered upon going to heaven.  We were created as man and woman and will remain so.  The institution of marriage is not being obliterated by our sins, but it will need repair.  But if we were to see our marriages become perfected here we must follow the same path we follow to see our characters become perfect.  We must learn to submit ourselves to Jesus, and allow Him to change the core of who we are, to want different things, to love in a different way.  The married ones of us, will find a deeper love and a deeper intimacy with our spouses in this process.  We may even learn to have perfected marriages in this world ahead of the one to come.  We may find our goals too become eternal, and not just for the brief time we occupy this world.  We may even find the unity of the One God in the one person we become, sharing that level of unity and love for others, so that when other see either of us, they see both of us perfectly blending into one flesh.  And His love shining through that perfect blend.

 

Ghosts of Pride and Ignorance ...

Word of mouth, or a good recommendation from someone you know, might be the best publicity out there.  No matter how it comes to you, the opinion of someone you know and perhaps trust, will outweigh what billboards, or advertising, or any other paid medium can offer.  When we connect with someone, understand where they are coming from, have memories of shared experiences, it gives us a much better context for something they like when they recommend it to us.  This is a basic human phenomenon that has existed long before mobility gave us pictures, and 140 characters to disseminate data to our collection of friends.  In the time of Christ, it was the only vehicle for spreading the good news.  The fame of Jesus was spreading widely already, but instituting His followers and sending them out 2-by-2 had exponentially increased the word of mouth regarding the Messiah.  Instead of only Jesus performing miracles on a grand scale, now 12 other followers were doing it too.  At this rate, there would hardly be a demon-possession or sick person left in all of Israel.  The nation itself was moving from weakness to strength in so short a time, every disciple was certain the Messiah was soon to fulfill the mission they all believed He came for … to become our earthly King.

But there was already a king of the Jews, or at least a tetrarch.  Herod Antipas, was still formally in charge of Israel (or this part of Galilee).  The Romans had dispatched a governor to maintain military discipline, but continued to honor their original agreement with Herod the Great, dividing his kingdom into three parts at his death and letting his sons rule in each section of the greater Palestine area.  Herod Antipas in our section had no great military ambition, and was more focused on insuring a relative peace, in order to maintain his rule, than to see it given over to one of his brothers Archelaus or Phillip, or another Roman puppet altogether.  He spent the majority of his life attempting to maintain what he had been given.  But this Herod Antipas had grown up in Israel, he had learned from his father who was familiar with Jewish scripture.  Herod remembered the act of his father murdering the baby boys up to 2 years old in Bethlehem to prevent the coming Messiah and deny scripture its fulfillment.  Herod’s son Antipas developed an intelligence network to keep an “eye” on goings on that may indicate the Messiah had come anyway.  And this intelligence network yielded its first real person of interest in the form of John the Baptist.

The scribes, priests, Rabbi’s, Pharisees and Sadducees; basically the entire ruling class, was easy enough for Herod Antipas to deal with.  They were greedy and power hungry themselves, so their motives were easy to read, and their actions followed their hearts.  They may have spoken about religion and tradition, but their focus had nothing to do with the changing of hearts or minds, only of maintaining the flow of offerings to the Temple (and themselves by proxy).  The laws of Moses were generally restrictive in nature, and where Moses had left off, the Temple traditions had added a whole host of further restrictions required in order to achieve piety.  These additional man-made restrictions also greatly increased the profitability of the Temple (and its servants).  So this very corrupted religious institution was well known to Herod, and he never paid it that much credence.  When his brother Phillip’s wife caught his eye; when she clearly made it known, she wanted Antipas, not her husband Phillip, Herod decided too many restrictions prevent happiness and he took her home with him.  In the eyes of Herod Antipas, taking a woman who wants to be taken is hard to call a sin, particularly if he was willing to marry her as well, and treat her like a wife.  After all, Herod was not establishing a multi-wife situation, he was only stealing one.

Herodias however, came with Phillip’s daughter Salome.  She had baggage, but the apple did fall far from the tree and Salome had a reputation for excellence at exotic dancing.  Herod Antipas was now quite comfortable.  He the wife of his choosing, despite some regrettable acquisition details.  He had the clergy under his thumb.  He had the people relatively calm.  Then came John the Baptist.  John was unlike the hypocrites Herod was familiar with.  John was real.  He lived in humility and preached it.  He had no monetary ambitions, and Herod’s spies quickly figured out that John was not looking to become king of anything, so he was no threat; at least no military threat.  John however, was endowed with the Holy Spirit and his preaching was powerful and convicting.  In fact, Herod secretly went to hear John preach, and despite John’s call for repentance, Herod “heard him gladly”.  Herod liked John.  He liked his authenticity.  He liked the power in his message.  He did not even mind when John called him out on it not being lawful to have his brother Phillip’s wife as his own.  Herod knew John was right, and because of his admiration for John, he was OK with it.  He was not ready to give her up, but he knew John was right, Herod was sinning against his brother Phillip.

Herodias however, was NOT OK with it.  She wanted John dead, and would have gotten it right away, but her husband had zero intention of putting innocent blood on his own hands, particularly of someone he admired.  But that is exactly what happened because of pride, and of ignorance.  After being sent out 2-by-2 the disciples uncovered this story.  Peter recalls to John Mark in his gospel in chapter six beginning in verse 14 saying … “And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.”  Herod’s first response reflected both fear, and hope.  He imagined that the great miracles going on in Israel, the idea that the disciples were also healing and casting out demons, might mean that John the Baptist had risen from the dead and was responsible for all of this.  Perhaps John would forgive Herod for his death.  After all, both Andrew and John the beloved, were both originally disciples of John the Baptist.  And 2 other disciples were their brothers including Peter.  So at least 4 disciples had direct connections to John the Baptist, and it was through the Baptist that they had met Christ.  To Herod this idea made good sense.

But despite wishful thinking on Herod’s part, it was not a risen John the Baptist, nor any ghost version of him that was behind the miraculous transformation of Israel from extreme weakness to extreme strength.  Herod’s intelligence network and the people at large had other ideas.  John Mark continues in verse 15 saying … “Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.”  The coming of Elias (or Elijah) had also been prophesied, and perhaps he or one of his other contemporaries had arisen in Israel.  The question raised was the most key issue then and now.  Who exactly is Jesus Christ?  If Jesus is only a prophet, then His divinity is moot, and our salvation along with it.  If Jesus is only a good teacher, an upright man, then His life is no more meaningful than any other good soul who has ever lived.  But if Jesus is the only Son of God, then there can be no salvation from our desire to sins, outside of coming to Him in surrender.  This has been, and always will be the key question every man must answer for himself, who is Jesus Christ.  Herod remained unconvinced of these other theories.

John Mark continues in verse 16 saying … “But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.”  This was Herod’s greatest wish.  He wanted John back from the dead.  He wanted to be forgiven for making John a headless corpse.  He, like Saul of old, wanted to hear a word from the Lord from the mouth of His prophet.  But Herod had made himself blind to the fact that he could have word directly with the Lord who truly was responsible for the miracles everyone was reporting.  This set of scripture begins with Herod’s recognition of the name of Jesus Christ being reported to him.  But Herod twisted the identity of Jesus, transforming Him into a risen John instead; because that idea made Herod happier.  If Jesus was not John, then John remained dead, and Herod figured he could never be forgiven.  How like us.  We attempt to transform God into the image we want, in order to gain acceptance for the sins we commit, instead of seeking forgiveness and transformation from them altogether.

Peter then recalls the story of John the Baptist that he and the other disciples had uncovered in their mission of ministry.  Mark transcribes it beginning in verse 17 saying … “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her. [verse 18] For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.”  No whore likes being called that.  John the Baptist had out’d Herodias as being an adulteress.  John had made it known to Herod, it was a sin to keep her.  And Herodias had no intention of being sent back to Phillip, or kicked out on the street.  John posed a threat, and she wanted him dead.  So after nagging Herod to death, likely withholding sex, and making his life miserable, Herod finally agreed to put John in prison, where at least he could not publicly call her a whore anymore.  Even though Herod would still regularly visit John there.  Mark continues in verse 19 saying … “Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not: [verse 20] For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”

Herod “did many things” based on the preaching and message of John the Baptist.  Herodias perceived the threat as being even greater to her, now that John was in prison where Herod could see him regularly.  In fact scripture says that Herod “heard him gladly”.  Herod embraced the true message of repentance John was preaching.  He did not make him shut up, instead he wanted more.  He began to reform his actions because of it.  Herodias rightly reasoned, that if this kept up, she would be back in Phillips home, or out on the street in no time at all.  Something had to be done.  Mark continues in verse 21 saying … “And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; [verse 22] And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. [verse 23] And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.”

So there are a few things to consider in this sequence of events.  First, it is highly likely Herod was not getting any with Herodias because she still wanted John dead.  So as a gesture to put Herodias in her place, Herod asks her talented daughter to dance at his party for him.  This was meant to further un-nerve Herodias, and it worked at first.  But Ghosts are created by pride, and exist in ignorance.  Herod had made his birthday celebration a public one with only the ruling class of important attendees.  Where better to show off his niece’s dancing skills, and the wealth and privilege he had amassed.  Word of mouth was important, perhaps more so in his own day.  And the word of a king had to be trusted and absolute, or the monarchy would degenerate into chaos.  But parties then and now, are opportunities for people to let their hair down, and have a good time.  Herod would not be driving so why not take in a little wine, and add drunkenness to the enjoyment of the day.  Drunkenness was another one of those restrictions the Rabbi’s were always making too much of anyway.  But in this condition, it seemed reasonable to offer the dancer anything she wanted.  It would be another slight to her mother for not being willing to keep Herod entertained.  Herod’s lack of clarity of mind, clouded his judgment, and he over-promised, not thinking what she might ask for.

John Mark records what happened next in verse 24 saying … “And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. [verse 25] And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.”  Salome was no innocent, she was the daughter of a whore, and appeared to have taken up the family profession.  She had succeeded in arousing the passion of the king, who was thinking to buy her intimacies later this evening for his birthday.  But Salome would ultimately share the fate of her mother.  If her mother were sent back to Phillip or cast out on the street, she would follow.  John the Baptist did not tolerate partial sins, he was looking to free his audience from all of them.  Herod could not marry his niece any more than he could lawfully steal her mother.  So if the threat of John persisted, she would be cast out as well.  She did not argue with mom, or even suggest an alternative, rather she embellished her demands by wanting John’s head in a basket for her to toy with.  She returned to the king “straightway with haste”.  Not tempted by immediate rewards like jewels or wealth or land, she would rather play the long game and terminate the threat of John, so ultimately she could inherit it all.

Mark records the outcome in verse 26 saying … “And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. [verse 27] And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, [verse 28] And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.”  Ghosts are created by pride.  The king had sworn an oath.  He could have argued with her.  He could have simply refused her, and had her executed herself from making such a request.  If he was worried about maintaining his power, that would have sent a strong message to those in attendance.  But Herod was weak in sexual matters.  This is how Herodias gained entrance into his home in the first place.  It was now, his weakness that would submit to his pride, and end the life of the only holy man he knew, and admired. 

Herod was “exceeding sorry”.  The repentance John had been preaching was now fully in the heart of Herod, but alas his pride remained greater.  The daughter of the whore, took the head to her mother, and despite his weakness, Herod would not want to be seduced any further on this birthday, he had already lost too much.   It was in this context, that Herod so desperately wanted to believe that Jesus was a risen John.  He wanted a second chance.  He wanted to undo the consequences of his sins.  But Herodias and Salome had remained in his home, and in his heart, and in his weakness.  So while Herod preferred a better Ghost story, he had denied himself access to the only person who had the power to free him from his sinful and addictive desires.  By denying the identity of Jesus Christ, Herod had cut himself off from his only cure.  When later Herod would be given power over the fate of Christ, his only interest would be in seeing a miracle for himself.  By then the corrupting influence of the whores in his life, would have sapped all the repentance he had ever felt when listening to John.

Peter contacted Andrew and John to collect the remains as Mark writes in verse 29 … “And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.”  Herod released the body to the disciples of John the Baptist, but never bothered to know who it was they served now.  His interest in Jesus would only be if it could confirm what he wanted Jesus to be.  Finding out directly from the disciples that his theories of God were incorrect was not something he wanted to hear.  Are we any different?  When we concoct our images of who God is, do we craft Him in our image instead of the other way around?  Do we attempt to rationalize or minimize the effects and consequences of our sins, instead of seeking a freedom from them in the first place?  It would have been hard for Herod to let go the love of his life, and the seductress of his bedroom.  It was harder still for Solomon of old, to let go 600 wives, 900 concubines, and nearly 4000 of his own children and keep only one… but that is what he did when his conversion finally took hold.  It was hard for Abraham to lose Sarah.  But life goes on.  And Herod could have trusted in God to find him a helpmate that was good for him not only sexually, but spiritually. 

If Herod had been willing to trust his sexuality in the hands of His God, the outcome of his life might have been an order of magnitude better.  To experience real love is far cry better than lust that masquerades as love.  To know intimacy not only with a woman, but a woman who is equally intimate with God, allows God a level of access into our family units that is how it was intended to be.  Herodias and her daughter were not fans of God, they were his enemy.  They used their feminine powers of seduction to get what they wanted, but were incapable of intimacy with God or man, because they had cut themselves off from the source of love and intimacy.  We are quick to criticize Herod for his pride, lack of judgment, and willingness to sin for sex.  But we are slow to look into the mirror, and lay the love of our lives on the same altar of our God.  We are slow to pledge to God ahead of our own sexual interests.  Instead like Herod, we want both.  We want a religion and set of restrictions than is not too tight for us to enjoy what we have, instead of being open to so much more that God might have in mind for us.  Our sin limits us, it does not free us.  Our sins enslave us, and keep us bound to pain and mediocrity, instead of allowing our God to offer us His boundless treasures that no one can take away.

Perhaps the only real winner in this tragedy is Phillip.  Phillip was rid of the whore who masqueraded as his wife.  While he lost his daughter as well, perhaps Phillip feared she too was beyond the desire for redemption.  Perhaps were Antipas would not accept the identity of Christ, Phillip might be better inclined to listen.  At least he would be free of the corrupting influence of a woman who knows the boundaries of lust, but has yet to discover the bliss of love.  If we are to live differently than Herod, and see another outcome in our lives, we must begin to trust God with our MOST cherished possessions, the core of who we are.  We need the Lord in our homes, in our hearts, in our bedrooms, and at the core of our marriages.  If we shut God out of these things, we deny ourselves the potential for bliss He so longs to give us.  Better the bliss of God, than the counterfeit his enemy offers that brings only pain and regret.  Let us make no Ghosts from pride, and let none exist from our willful ignorance.

Epilogue of a Woman ...

 The seeds of a counterfeit are planted early.  They require careful attention to detail.  They must emulate the original thing they impersonate as much as is possible in order to be believed.  People want the original, and will only accept the counterfeit if it cannot be perceived to be what it is, a counterfeit.  So the lie must look as much like the truth as it can.  Mix the lie with elements of the truth and it becomes harder to distinguish.  In heaven “Love” reigns supreme.  “Love” is the reason, the motivation, the means, the method for salvation, perfection, and fulfillment of life and existence itself.  Lucifer took what was holy and perfect and made only one slight alteration; he altered “Love” for others, into “Love” for self.  It was still “Love” after all.  How could that little change be so bad?  Why would God counsel him not to pursue a love of self?  Was God trying to hoard all the “Love” for Himself and not share any with anyone else?  They all loved God, why was it so bad that they should choose to love themselves as well?  What kind of God would deny them, the love for self, that they were surely due, that they had surely earned?  A conflict of ideas had been born.  There was no supporting evidence, other than “God’s words” that the new idea was somehow going to be bad.  And why should a “selfish” God, who appears to only be hoarding all the love, be believed anyway?  This was perfection right?  How could altering something perfect turn out bad, and what was bad anyway?

But a counterfeit is always a counterfeit.  It does not perform to the specifications of the original, for by definition, it cannot.  A counterfeit might appear to look like the original, it may function much like the original, but in the end, it cannot be anything other than what it is, a counterfeit.  The alteration of Lucifer, the transformation of “Love” for others, into “Love” of self, proved the definition of evil itself.  His counterfeit quickly degenerated into the defining of the entire opposite of the word “Love” in any way.  Instead he had only defined “Selfishness”.  Self cares only about self.  But Self cannot find enough to make it happy.  Happiness can be found only in loving others, not loving self.  So the counterfeit of Lucifer, now Satan, must be covered up, and masked.  He could not market the pure love of self without quickly revealing where it leads.  So he markets a “blend” of love of self, and love of others.  Satan proposes that we must love ourselves first, in order to sustain ourselves, and insure our survival and dignity.  Once that is achieved, we should also love those who are closest to us.  We should love those who love us, and provide a support system to us that makes us happy.  We should do things for them to show them we love them, as long as they are doing things for us, and it is “balanced”.  BUT, should the balance ever appear to be one-sided, our love of self dictates that we move on, and find someone else to love, someone who will love us in a more “balanced” way.

And so the counterfeit does not perform as the original, it brings a facsimile of happiness, that might last for a moment, but it does not bring the long lasting, deeply fulfilling happiness that the original intended.  But the idea of “blending” truth with error, of “balancing” love of self with love for others, continues to make the counterfeit appear like the original.  So a counterfeit religion is launched to compete with the true religion of God.  The counterfeit will have many varieties, many names, many alternative theories, deities, and ideologies – but at its heart – it will have only one central premise; the idea that self and love of self must play an active role in the achievement of perfection.  Self-reliance, whether by words, or deeds, will be the cornerstone of every counterfeit religion that will emerge on planet earth.  Even within Christianity, the ideas that our salvation is a “partnership” with God, or that our salvation is somehow dependent upon “us” will come to be the majority view within every church.  The ideas that salvation is a pure gift, will be augmented by a “then what?” strategy that leads the believer to determine that his own actions following his declaration for Christ, are what save or lose him his own salvation.  The insidious idea is to immediately cut off the new Christian from a dependence upon Christ, and instill the need for him to save himself and perfect himself now that he is a Christian.

So the counterfeits of self-reliance and the balance of self-love, are not new ideas, but seeds planted long ago by the master of lies.  They have given rise to many false churches and false religions all through time.  And over time, they have infected the church of Christ, until what was formerly the church of Christ becomes indistinguishable from the church of Satan and Self.  Satan is far too smart to eliminate the “name” of Christ from His own church.  Instead he simply eliminates the power of Christ from eliminating sins.  Satan offers us our own beautiful self to eliminate sin, gradually over time, as we read the word, and forget the role of its Author.  Satan skillfully teaches us the role of “self” in our salvation; never that it is only self, but always that self cannot be eliminated from salvation.  And so through insidious ideas of balance and partnership, we become content to rely upon grace to save us in spite of our sins, instead of a dependence on grace to change us from within to the point where we no longer wish to commit those sins.  We remain content with the idea that sins are a part of who we are.  For self is inextricable from sin.  The counterfeit can never actually do what only the original can do.

And herein is the mystery: if the original is free, why would we choose to pay so high a price in pain, suffering, and death for the counterfeit?  If the love of self can be demonstrated to never fulfill us, and bring us only inevitable misery, why would we choose to remain its slave, if there is a free alternative?  In short, why freely choose to die, when life is so easy to choose instead?  It is the mystery of addiction.  It is the mystery of self-destruction.  It is the mystery of sin.  It makes no sense.  It is a counterfeit that is empty of meaning.  For when once the love of self is embraced over the love of others, what was perfect becomes the definition of evil, what was free becomes a slave that can no longer ever save itself. 

In order for the slavery of the love of self to be broken, it will require a Savior, something outside of self, to see us made free from self.  This is no partnership.  This is a purely an external action and mission.  It will be done FOR us, not by us, or it will never happen at all.  We will have no role in our own salvation, except to embrace it, accept it, and allow it to occur.  We only need to choose it, and then let Christ do it within us.  We will take no actions that see it done.  We will be no partner in the demise of our sin.  And we will be left with ZERO love of self, when the process completes, because it is the love of self in any amount that is the source of all evil.  The pure love of others, without attempts at “balance”, and with no consideration for how others love us, is all that remains in the salvation our God brings to us.  The original will see us free to love, free to live, and happy beyond our imagination in both.  To choose to remain slave to misery and death becomes a mystery no sentient life can understand.

So after the climactic events of the series of seven are largely over, in the aftermath, an epilogue of revelations are presented.  John has just revealed in chapter 16 the final seven last plagues that have befallen the world.  Evil has met its first rewards.  And in the aftermath of so great the destruction and consequences of sins, of counterfeits, of “balance” between love of self and love of others, an angel who carried one of the plagues upon the world takes time to come to John to reveal what has befallen the counterfeit religions Satan has given rise to. 

He begins in Revelations chapter 17 and verse 1 saying … “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: [verse 2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”  Throughout the book of Revelations, the image of a woman has always aligned with a church.  In this case, the “great whore” has been fully unfaithful to the idea of a singular belief in Jesus Christ alone as the method of our salvation.  Instead the whore has sought to blend any other ideas into the process of salvation. The counterfeit has been successful if measured by the sheer number of people who embraced her ideas of mixture and self-reliance, even within Christianity.  So the angel begins the epilogue of what happens to these ideas, and how they were to be judged by God in the end of all things. 

He continues in verse 3 … “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.”  First, notice that what appears to John are two distinct entities, the first is a woman.  The second is a scarlet colored beast.  It is the beast who is full of names of blasphemy.  It is the beast who has seven heads, and ten horns.  This is the beast described earlier, the second beast (after the dragon), which first gave rise in the dark ages.  The woman, or great whore, or false church, rides upon this second beast.  John continues in verse 4 … “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:”  This woman is no pauper, she has not given away all her wealth to others so as to make her poor.  She retains her wealth and puts it on display, in opulence, in public without shame or embarrassment at its lavish extreme.  She wears the finest clothing, and decks it with the finest in jewels and precious gems.  She also carries a golden cup and its contents are described as abominations and filthiness of her fornication, a substance of perversion one would not wish to explain to children.

John continues in verse 5 … “And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”  Three named elements are offered that describe this woman, this false church.  First is MYSTERY; the mystery of sin.  From the perspective of unfallen beings, of sentient life who have never known the slavery of self-love, it is pure mystery to them why anyone would choose this course.  Those who never broken trust with God, do not understand why anyone would.  It is plain to see, what happens when someone breaks trust with God, when someone chooses to trust themselves and their own wisdom and common sense, instead of trusting in God.  This is why Lucifer pursued a course he was counseled against.  And once embraced, he degenerated from Lucifer to Satan.  Self-love has led to the genesis of evil, of pain, and of death, even requiring the life of the creator.  There is nothing compelling about it.  It is mystery why anyone would ever freely choose it.

The second name assigned to this false church is BABYLON THE GREAT.  In this context, the false doctrines of the church are inextricably married with the power of the state.  In this context, the compulsion of the conscience is born and carried to its logical extremes.  There will be no dissent in the church of Satan, no reliance on Christ; reliance on anything else is fine, just not on Christ.  Those who would choose to rely solely upon Christ for salvation would find it; therefore they must be exterminated by the power of the state.  Babylon has the power to do just that.  Babylon was a universal power, not bound by the limits of any one government, but infected in all of them.  There will be no free will, no power of choice in this false religion.  There will be only slavery to its edicts and its power.  Any dissent will find only martyrdom.  The power of the state will back the false ideas of these religions, even the ones who bear the name of Christ, but have no idea what it means to love.

The third name of this false church is THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  One false Christian church the original Catholic one, did not end alone in its false ideologies and adoption of self-reliance.  Instead it gave birth to other Harlots.  What emerged from the reformation and great protestant movement no more stayed purely aligned with their roots, as did the Catholic Church from the apostles who first gave it the light.  Over time, corruption entered the doors of the protestant faiths until they too adopted the ideas of “balance” and “self-reliance” in the method of our salvation.  In the times of the end, it is not just the mother of harlots that aligns herself with the power of the state to enforce her edicts over the conscience of men; it is her many harlot daughters who are equally content to do the same.  It can no longer be blamed on the Popes of the past or future who alone are thought to be responsible for what will transpire; for every protestant faith will also bear its share of blame in the coming woe.  None are exempt from the idea of using the law to enforce the ideas and edicts of men over the simple individual following of Jesus Christ alone.

The abomination of the compulsion of conscience is no longer reserved only to the mother church; it is shared by those who she gave birth to.  And it is not just one abomination that exists because of this woman, it is many.  She lies.  She thinks herself equal to God.  She kills those who dissent.  She persecutes and tries to force those who are weak in their beliefs to acquiesce to her demands.  She offers them sex, and perversion, and momentary pleasures that come from a whore, instead of the wholesome monogamy and intimacy that Christ would have desired for them.  She collects the fruit of her sexual promiscuity in her golden cup, and puts it on display proudly without shame or remorse.  She is content to be the mother of harlots.  She is content to be the purveyor of abominations upon the earth.  She has no shame, but much pride.

John continues in verse 6 … “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”  The first part of this text concludes the imagery associated with the false church, this woman of harlotry and now murder.  The woman is drunken.  The blood of the saints and martyrs for following Jesus Christ alone and not adhering to the edicts of men has not only been shed, it is has been drunk.  She has become inebriated with their blood, happy, giddy, joyful, relaxed, and engorged with the blood of those who follow Christ.  Murder is not a thing of disdain, or something to be avoided, it is to be embraced by her. 

Lest you believe you are immune to this kind of thinking, consider your own level of acceptance in embracing the ideas that to keep your faith pure, how many would you allow to die?  How many would you kill yourself, or allow others to kill for you, in order to preserve your church, your doctrines, your ideas.  Or how many “sinners” who remain unrepentant would you wish to see die?  How many homosexuals, or pregnant mothers heading into the abortion clinic, or atheists, or Satanists, or militant Christians carrying placards filled with hate speech, would you take pleasure in seeing meet their early demise?  The false churches take pleasure in these things.  The woman becomes drunk on blood.  Sure we could argue she is drunk on the blood of saints and martyrs not sinners.  But then which saint was not also a sinner?  Which of us was perfect from birth?  Who of us, did not require the intervention of Christ in order to think differently, love differently, and become someone else?  We have all sinned, we all need a Savior, and as such we are all sinners, and all re-created saints.  It is our blood this woman seeks.  Do you find yourself aligned with the ideas of seeking blood, or of redeeming it?

In the second part of this passage John states “when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.”  John does not imply that he admires the whore for her grandeur, beauty, and wealth.  His admiration is in the mystery of her imagery and who she is.  It is a great mystery to him as to her identity.  He cannot immediately figure it out.  So this is the situation, the angel will rectify.  He continues in verse 7 saying … “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”  John being overwhelmed at the imagery presented was not the intent of this epilogue.  So the angel intends to decode the imagery so that John will understand better who she is, who the beast is, and what these things mean.  For the point of this epilogue is to understand what happens to the counterfeit and why the original is so much better.

The angel begins in verse 8 saying … “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”  The angel begins first with the beast.  The life cycle of the beast is first described.  The beast was, and is not.  Meaning the beast existed for a time and was powerful for a time, but then it lost its power.  After that loss of power, the beast will ascend out of the bottomless pit.  So after the loss of power, it gains again in influence throughout the world.  But the end result of the beast remains constant, it will again go into perdition.  The ultimate end of this beast is to be consumed in the lake of fire.  Those who have not embraced the salvation of Jesus Christ alone, who find their names are not written in the book of life, will “wonder” after this beast.  They will marvel at its ability to have regained so much power and influence after having lost it earlier.  They will embrace the ideas of this beast. 

John continues in verse 9 … “And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.”  The angel here pretty much spells out to John in as clear a clue as possible, who this beast is, or rather where she is based.  The seven heads of the beast are the seven mountains, those where Rome is based.  The second beast has already been identified in previous chapters as the Papal power of the dark ages.  In this epilogue of false churches, the angel shows that when false ideas infect even a Christian church, it can become the tool of the enemy, the mother of harlots, and a beast raised by the dragon himself. 

Catholicism embraced using the power of the state to enact and enforce its edicts upon men.  Catholicism propagated the idea that one must have association in good standing within the church first, in order that salvation be achieved.  In that sense it made itself equal to Christ in the process of our salvation.  This beast carried power until the beheading of the Pope when its power was taken.  But Mussolini restored the Vatican city with its wealth and power back to the Roman church.  Since then it has only gained in power and influence around the world.  It is not the same persecuting entity it once was, but its underlying “blend” of actions required for salvation has never gone away.  Nor has the idea that church association in good standing is required as part of the process of our salvation.  Those who are not rooted in their salvation from Jesus Christ alone, have no problems with these ideas.  They see the charity and love of the current Pope as evidence that things have changed and the mixture of doctrines might not be so bad.  And in truth what the Pope espouses is not much different today than what any protestant church espouses, including your own.  Christian ideals are not a bad thing.  Love and charity are not a bad thing.  But to mask the idea that self continues to play a role in our salvation is the fundamental premise that turns a church of Christ, into a church of His enemy.  This is not a condemnation of Catholics, or Protestants, or sinners in general – it is an exposition by the angel of what constitutes the counterfeits Satan promulgates in ANY ideology.

John continues in verse 10 … “And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. [verse 11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. [verse 12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. [verse 13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.”  Frankly little is understood from these passages.  The seven kings are often interpreted as the 7 powers that ruled the world affecting the people of God.  Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and a blended United Nations style power (mixture of clay and iron described in the ten toes of the feet of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar to Daniel).  Five of them had fallen in the time of John, the sixth was in power then.  The ten kings which have received no power as of that time where John lived, could be interpreted as the members of the UN security council.  They are said to represent the great powers of this world in the current times.  The eighth kingdom, being connected with the previous seven, is a worldwide power and will exist in the light of the Mark of the third beast.  This is often interpreted as the kingdom of the antichrist, or the time when Satan has direct rule over the planet just prior to the return of Christ.

The idea of having the UN security council align itself with the image of the beast, and enact a worldwide series of edicts that restrict commerce unless the mark of the third beast is accepted is not that farfetched.  Keep in mind, the computer systems needed to run the finances of the world are already chiefly run by the United States today.  Should Satan impersonate the return of Christ, and Allah, and Buddha, and Ganesh, and the Messiah, how quickly might he align the nations of the world under a single banner with his leadership at its front.  The ideas of having a one-world-government, or having the ten powers of “one mind” in offering their allegiance to the beast under these conditions is quite predictable.  The most important characteristic here remains the same, it is the alignment of worldly powers of the state, to enforce the religious edicts of man to compel the conscience that is at issue.  Once these ideas have been accepted on a worldwide basis, the fate of the great whore will have been decided, and the false churches, even the ones bearing the name of Christ, will be sent into perdition.

John continues in verse 14 … “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”  The Armageddon war to end all wars will be waged by these 10 powers, by this worldwide coalition against the Lamb, but they will not prevail.  The counterfeit cannot compete with the original.  The plagues recently described are to be poured out upon the evil in this world.  The false churches, even those who carry the name of Christ, will experience the results of those plagues.  It is not the name of Christ that will protect people from the final seven plagues, it is the following of Christ, the dependence upon Christ alone for our salvation, that will determine whether we are truly His, or only borrowing and blaspheming His name.  Those who by declaration, or by refusing a full surrender to Christ, have adopted the Mark of the Third Beast, will see firsthand the wrath of God’s judgments, the full consequences of their choices revealed in the final plagues upon evil in the world.  The angel revealing these things to John was one of those who carried these plagues.

John continues in verse 15 … “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”  The ideas spread by all of the false churches of Satan are worldwide.  They are not constricted to a particular set of doctrines, or peoples, or geographies, but instead have infected the entire planet.  Religions who plainly deny the divinity of Christ share the same self-reliant ideas of salvation as those who do carry His name.  John continues in verse 16 … “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. [verse 17] For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”  If we interpret the ten horns as being the powers defined by the UN security council, then it would seem to indicate that religions who do not carry the name of Christ are to be hated and persecuted by these powers.  The kingdom of the beast (whether the second of Papal origin, or the third of likeminded Protestant origin) is to have the allegiance of the final 10 powers upon the world.  In short, those who do not unite under the banner of the antichrist and his impersonations of worldwide religious leaders are to feel the wrath of the 10 powers.  The compulsion of the conscience remains the key principle upon which all of this is based, and upon which the kingdom of Satan is founded.

John concludes this epilogue in verse 18 saying … “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”  The woman or false church remains aligned inextricably with the power of the state to rule over the kings of the earth.  Her fate was decided in the previous chapters.  Her identity was revealed in this one.  She is the counterfeit.  She is the seeds planted long ago.  She is the introduction of self-reliance into the process of our salvation and of our perfection that dominates the religions of the world, and has even infected the Christian religions as well.  She retains the altered ideas of balancing self-love with love for others.  She makes sense.  She is more logical, and more alluring.  The pleasure of self after all seems like quite a wondrous thing.  But she is a lie.  She is a mystery of choosing death over life, of choosing pain over happiness and contentment, of choosing slavery over real freedom. 

The angel who carried one of the final plagues upon this world takes time to speak to John, so that he will see the fate of the counterfeit over the original.  He speaks to John, in the time of John, so that John is not seduced by the ideas of control and power that already infect the church of Rome who carries the name of Christ.  The seduction of self-reliance that leads to a quest for power, control, and wealth will inevitably take over the church with the name of Christ and turn it into the mother of harlots, so that no church carrying Jesus’ name will be immune to these counterfeit ideas.  All will succumb to the notion of compelling the conscience of others, and challenging their identity as followers of Jesus Christ alone.  The daughters of the harlot will be no better than their mother.  The abominations wreaked by these counterfeit ideas will lead to the destruction described earlier.  The union of church and state to enforce these religious compulsions will not end, until the return of King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

But there is one more epilogue and epitaph to be written …