Much has been written about the socio-political situation at the time of the end, but we need to study more what will take place in the religious realm at those times. Common sense tells us that the closing hours of the age are about a conflict - Satan is seeking to usurp God’s place so that he can step in and be in control. That has been his plan from the time he fell, and it is headed for a climax. The key to his victory, as he sees it, is the hearts and souls of humanity. As a result, as things start to play out, we will begin - and I must say, we are seeing it now - to see the polarization of two competing faiths. This fact can be found throughout Scripture, as it is seen in the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30, as well as in the parable of the dragnet in Matthew 13:47-48, among other passages (note in particular I Timothy 4:1-4, Matthew 25:33, etc.). I believe the time is soon upon us when this polarization will compel individuals to choose, and there are only two choices. The first is the Remnant of Christ, and the second is the apostasy of Satan. We as Christians are to inform as many as we can of the RIGHT choice, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This portion of the series I wish to focus on the Apostate Church which will be instituted by the False Prophet to worship the Beast during the Tribulation. This religious system is discussed at length in Revelation 17, beginning in verse 4, where it is symbolized by a whore riding upon a hideous scarlet beast rising on the waters - the "Scarlet Woman." The description of this "Scarlet Woman" begins in verse 4 and this is what we find:
1. She is elaborately clad in scarlet and purple, and is adorned with precious stones and pearls (referring to a government-sanctioned system with a great deal of wealth at her disposal)
2. She holds a golden cup filled with abominations (this symbolizes heresies and possibly immorality, mixing the skin of the truth - the gold cup - with apostasy - its content. It will be a religion that appears "Christian," yet will be anything but).
3. The name on her head "Mystery Babylon the Great - Babylon as it is referred to in prophetic Scripture is always synonymous with apostasy and of a wealthy temporal government. Therefore, this apostate religion is basically a "spiritual Babylon."
4. She is intoxicated with the blood of saints and martyrs - this symbolizes that the apostate faith is in terrible conflict with the True Faith, and that it comes to power at the expense of genuine Judeo-Christianity, which it will persecute and ostracize.
5. She causes those who behold her to ogle over her and lust after her - Note that even Saint John the Revelator was captivated by this momentarily as he was seeing the vision of it. Essentially, this will be a religious system that will appeal to many with a relevent but false message (ie; "seeker-friendly" in the truest sense!)that will gain a lot of adherents (note also Mark 13:22).
Please note that initially we see the "good" image of this false system, but as we read on in verse 16, the system itself falls from favor and is destroyed by Antichrist. There are explanations to all this we can get to in due time. However, it must be noted that this passage references an apostate religious system that will arise, but in time outlast its initial purpose when the Antichrist and False Prophet institute their real intentions. In order to understand future events, it is important to understand that these things do not just happen overnight, but rather evolve and develop over time. The system we just talked about briefly above will likely be a culmination of lesser factors that lead up to it. Therefore, in order to get the full picture of what’s going on, we need to look first at the contributing factors to see how things will come together. That is the purpose of this series.
A. Road to Apostasy in the Vehicle of Complacency
To begin, let us go back to the opening chapters of Revelation. These initial chapters deal with letters addressed to the seven churches of Asia. If one looks at this from the perspective of Apostolic Christianity (which, as an Eastern Orthodox, I am) all of these churches were under the episcopal authority of Saint John the Revelator, who in our Eastern Christian Tradition is known as the Bishop of Ephesus. In essence, what the Apostle is doing in the earlier chapters of Revelation is a "spiritual audit" of the parishes in his diocese, if you will. All of these congregations have their strengths and their weaknesses, as the Apostle points out clearly, and interesting enough all of these are relevent to us today as Christians. The focus here is on the seventh parish of Laodicea, which is addressed at length in Revelation 3:14-19. This parish was plagued with a LOT of problems, and we will now look at those:
1. Lukewarm spirituality - The congregation had lost its fire, and the Christianity it practiced was only out of mere habit rather than vibrant lifestyle (vv. 15-16)
2. Too Comfortable - The Laodiceans felt too good about themselves, had an inflated sense of self-worth, and yet it was all a delusion (v 17)
3. The parish was in need of cleansing and judgement (v 19)
All of these factors are things that influence various Christian denominations today, as many of the same could be described as dead spiritually. This was not without warning in present times though, for not only Scripture tells us these things, but voices for ages have been heralding this same thing. One voice in particular was that of Pope Leo XIII at the beginning of the 20th century. While celebrating the Eucharist one day in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, he was given a vision by the Holy Spirit that was strangely reflective of Job 1:6-12. In the vision, the pontiff witnessed Satan before the throne of God in heaven, and Satan was challenging God by declaring that if given the opportunity, he could destroy the Church. God agreed that he could use the 20th century to try, but with limits. Astounded by this vision, Pope Leo immediately began to seek God in prayer, and in that same year (1901) in faraway Topeka, KS, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit broke out that would later be the genesis for the Pentecostal and charismatic renewal movements in the Church that were to take place. A prayer that Leo composed as a result of this vision was "Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle!" Indeed, a battle rages now today, and it has actually done so for the past 100 years or so now. The recent scandals of Catholic priests molesting children, the fall of major televangelists in the 1980’s, and the untold thousands of divisions and splits in the Body of Christ in the last 100 or so years, not to mention the materialism that has invaded the Church through such nonsense as "Name-It-And-Claim-It" theology as well as a growing skepticism against the supernatural (Ironically, the Holy Spirit and His works have been replaced by silly stuff such as the "Psychic Friends," goofy superstitions like the so-called "evil eye," and othe demonic garbage), and a departure from truth in some Christian circles in favor of a more "Seeker-friendly" message to gain numbers at the expense of sound teaching and discipleship. However, in the midst of all this there have been great outpourings of the Holy Spirit in various places, as is evidenced primarily by the Charismatic Renewal and its influence. However, many segments of the Body are still dying (they are the "valley of dry bones" described in Ezekiel 37). The latter fact explains why so many sermons sound more like dry university lectures than they do proclamations of the life-transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Catholic and some of our Orthodox parishes, we see many people just "going through the motions" rather than truly experiencing Christ and His presence in the Eucharist as they should. These are but a few examples of the larger problem - people are hungry for spirituality, especially after the tragic events of 9/11/2001, and they want answers. To many, the church has become but a mere social club where people sit in reserved pews, and our clergy (especially in some Catholic parishes I have observed) are wasting precious time hawking fundraising projects for God only knows what rather than proclaiming the Gospel to those who really need it. Now, in and of themselves, raising funds and a little socializing are not the trouble at all, and I am not knocking that. However, they seem to take up more priority than they need to, often at the expense of the Church’s true mandate to proclaim Christ to the world around it. Many others profess and give lip-service to Christianity, but when it comes to the active living out of their faith they fall short - one lady who I know personally as a lifelong Catholic even thinks the "evil eye" spell is a "Christian prayer" and feels like she is doing some service to God by engaging in this demonic spell-casting. Many people like this are either ignorant or they don’t believe what they were taught in the first place (a disturbing statistic in this regard that I read recently said that over 60% of self-professed Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist - which, by the way is a cardinal Church teaching!). Pastors and priests now stand in pulpits of various denominations and outrightly DENY essential Christian beliefs. All of this is evidence that two things are going on. First, they show a need for revival in ALL branches of the Christian faith. Second, they show a paradigm shift in Christian commitment at the lay level, which thus opens some doors that should not be left unattended. "Mystery Babylon" is in its primordial stages, but it is nevertheless present among us. As it grows like the life-destroying cancer it is, we will see many more tragic departures from the genuine Christian faith. Modern Christianity is much like the Laodicean Church (which is a typology of the Church in the last days) in that it is in deep trouble. As mainline churches are desensitized to the truth of both the Holy Gospel and of the Holy Tradition of the Church as practiced down through the centuries, it opens up a lot of cans of worms that are more serious than we probably realize. Even now, the apostate future one-world church is in formation, and it grows more pronounced with each passing year. That is where the fulfillment of Revelation 17 exists, and no doubt is a sure sign of the times.
As we can plainly see, a polarization of Christianity is coming when wheat and tares will be separated, and as they are, out of that schism will arise two diametrically opposed religious systems. Regardless of your views on end-time events in regard to specifics like the Rapture, etc., the important thing to realize is that it will happen during what Catholic and Orthodox Tradition calls the Minor Chastisement. One Catholic visionary in the 1600’s by the name of Bartholemew Holzhauser also had a word about this schism that Pope Leo XIII referred to indirectly in his vision discussed earlier. Let us look at what Holzhauser said:
"These are evil times, a century full of dangers and calamities. Heresy is everywhere, and followers of heresy are in power almost everywhere...but GOD WILL PERMIT A GREAT EVIL AGAINST HIS CHURCH: HERETICS AND TYRANTS WILL COME SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY" (Desmond Birch, TRIAL TRIBULATION AND TRIUMPH {Santa Barbara, CA: Queenship Publishing, 1996}pp. 336-337)
Later, Holzhauser also wrote that "many heresies and schisms will afflict the Latin Church" and elsewhere it is mentioned in his writings that even some priests will disregard the Holy Scripture and not respect the law and teachings of the Church (Birch, 331-333). This is also reflected in the writings of the 12th-century saint and visionary Malachy who was among the first to teach the idea of an Antipope (read False Prophet). At any rate, this only goes to show that there is a credence to the rise of the False Prophet via a Laodicean system that paves the way for him.
As for the Minor Chastisement itself, this is to occur before the Rapture, and is the "perilous times" that are prophesied in Scripture. It is my belief that we have entered into that period now, which tells me that we need to be more prepared than ever for what is to come. It is these times too that will pave the way for the Antichrist to come to power, and accompanying this are several indicators of the time in which we live:
1. Wars and Rumors of Wars (Matthew 24:6-7, Mark 13:7)
2. Moral Decay and Decadence (Romans 1:26-27, Matthew 24:37-39)
3. Advances in Technology (Daniel 12:4)
4. Civil Unrest (I Thessalonians 5:3-11, Isaiah 57:17, Jeremiah 6:4)
5. Religious Lukewarmness (Jude 3-23, I Peter 4:17-19, Ephesians 4:14, II Timothy 4:1,3, II Thessalonians 2:13, Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22)
6. Financial Calamity (Revelation 6:5-6)
Today we already see most of this going on simultaneously, and in due time when it all comes to a head it will lead to the Great Tribulation that is to come soon. Despite the negative signs however, there are many positives. Joel 2:28 tells us of a great spiritual renewal that is to take place, accentuated by displays of the supernatural. The purpose of this is to prepare true Christians to receive their Lord and Savior, as well as to bring more people into the kingdom to anticipate the Lord’s coming. With all this in mind, we now see the stage is set for a major apostasy to take place, and for the entrance cue of the Antichrist onto that world stage as things begin to unfold.
Until next time, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
