Chapter 19 Gods Final Plea to the Carnal Church Rev. 18:1-4, "And after these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven, having great power, and the earth was lighted with His glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Verse 4, "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." In these scriptures we see that an angel (a messenger) is repeating the warning given in Rev. 14:6-8, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people...for the hour of his judgment is come... and there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen..." The terrible, backslidden condition of the religious world is described in the above scriptures. They are the "habitation of devils, the stronghold of every foul spirit, and cages (churches) that hold every unclean and hateful bird." Corruption that has been creeping into the churches through the ages has reached new lows, as our scriptures describe. With their world-wide rejection of truth (God's message of the hour), the minds of the people have become darker, their hearts hard until in their stubbornness they have filled up the measure of their guilt. In defiance of the warnings God has given, they continue to trample upon one of the principles of scripture, that of God sending prophets in every age to restore the word. By this, Christ is set at naught and His word held in contempt. As a result, no real restraint is imposed on the carnal hearts, and the profession of religion becomes a cloak to hide the basest of sins, as our scripture has declared. A Babylon of confusion is the result! Of Babylon (the overall church) at this time it is declared, "Her sins have reached into heaven and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev.18:5) Destruction is about to fall on her! Fearful indeed is the place to which the world is to be brought. The power of the carnal churches (world council of churches) uniting with the governments of the world to war against the commandments of God, will decree that no man may buy or sell, save he that has the "mark of the beast" and finally, that whosoever refuses to receive the mark shall be put to death. (Rev.13:15-17) But what is this deadly "mark" that if received calls down the "wrath of God" upon its recipients? (Rev. 14:9-10) It is receiving the "hand of fellowship" from the world church system that God has declared to be "Babylon." (The word Babylon means confusion.) Heretofore, those who presented the truths of the seventh angel's message (Rev.10:7) have been regarded as mere alarmists by the carnal church. The prediction that church and state would unite to persecute the true Christians who would keep the commandments of God, has been pronounced groundless and absurd. Denominational church members have confidently declared that this nation could never become other than what it has been in years past, the defender of religious freedom. But as the years have passed since the message was first declared, the event so long doubted and disbelieved, is seen to be fast approaching! Current events in our Federal government, as compared with the seventh angel's message, are producing results which it could not have had before. Some eyes that have been tightly closed are receiving eye salve from the Holy Ghost. There are yet many in the churches of our country who have not had the angel's warning set before them in its true light. The message is not to be urged upon the people blindly. Everyone is to have sufficient light to make his decision intelligently. God does not send judgment without warning. Jesus reads every heart and tries every motive. The coming of the seventh angel messenger will be the great test of loyalty, because it is the point of truth that is especially disbelieved. But fact is, in every age God has sent His messengers to rebuke sin. Many ministers today determine to exercise great prudence in attacking the sins of the churches, but God so put the spirit of Elijah in his seventh messenger that all restraint fled as he preached the plain utterances of the Bible, and the danger which threatened thousands times thousands of souls. Since the messenger's departure, many other laborers have been qualified by the unction of the Spirit (not by the training of literary institutions.) Thus is the angel's message being proclaimed today, through humble instruments consecrated to God's service. As the time of the end draws ever closer, so does the cry of these increase in tempo. Men of faith and prayer are going forth with Holy zeal. By these solemn warnings some are being stirred. In amazement they hear that the Great Babylon of scripture is the "church", fallen because of her sins and rejection of the angel's message! But the sins of Babylon are being exposed. The fearful results of a union of church and state, and the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal church, is being unmasked. Some are going to their former teachers with the inquiry, "Are these things so?" Their ministers prophesy smooth things to soothe their fears, but for some, their conscience has been awakened, and they are turning from denominational fables to "Thus saith the Lord." The popular ministers, like the Pharisees of old, are jealous and angry as their authority is questioned. They denounce the message as of Satan, and those who proclaim it to be in a cult. They stir up the sin-loving church members to revile and persecute its believers. The carnal clergy put forth superhuman efforts to shut out the light from their flocks. By every means at their disposal, they endeavor to suppress the discussion of these most vital issues. As the ministry in the days of Noah, they rebuke and threaten all who would enter the "ark of safety". Ever fearful of public opinion, they are willing to ignore God's Word rather than jeopardize their social standing. But the steadfast response of the message proclaimers is, "Show us by the scriptures where we are wrong!" We remember that Martin Luther, bringing the truth of "justification by faith" and opposed by all the power of the Catholic Church, made the plea, "Show me from the scriptures where I am wrong!" Failing to do so, they nevertheless, banned him from the church and even sought his life. History repeats itself in every age. John Wesley was put out of the churches for his message of sanctification though it could not be refuted by scripture. Conscientious obedience to the revealed Word in every age has been considered rebellion. Blinded by Satan, the parent exercises harshness toward a believing child, an the children toward the parents. The words of Paul are literally fulfilled in this hour. "All that will live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (II Tim.3:12) As the defenders of the message from God refuse to compromise, their churches will be closed. To human wisdom, this may seem unlikely now, but as the restraining spirit of God is being withdrawn from men, they will come more and more under the influence of Satan, and there will appear strange happenings hard to understand. Witness the slaying of school children by other school children! The heart is cruel indeed when God's fear and love are removed. As the storm approaches, a certain class who have professed faith in the seventh angel's message, but have not been "changed" by it, will abandon their position and take refuge in the confused and evil world church. When the test is before them, their professed faith which was only in their lips, gives way, and they choose the easy, popular way. Never allowing God to strengthen their faith through test and trial, they will take the "mark of the beast" and be eternally lost. But what of God's faithful ones? They are even now being hedged in by many difficulties. God allows Satan to assail them with fierce temptations. Their faith is also tried as by fire, but having the holy oil in their lamps (the true Holy Ghost) they are held steady, and press forward to finish the work God has assigned them. In spite of ridicule, they proclaim the seventh angel's message to the carnal church and to the unchurched as well. The true believers are threatened by destruction. Some of the enthusiasm which pushed them has departed, they are faced with daily hard decisions, yea, life-threatening decisions. Yet they cannot forsake the message their Lord has sent! They remember that the words the messenger spoke were not his, but God's, who also bade them to give the warning. Then in utter weakness and helplessness they flee to the Holy one of Heaven for strength. God then sends them a sweeping anointing, and with their courage thus bolstered, they continue to insist that all doctrines be brought to the test of scripture. They renounce all that the Bible condemns. Persecution continues to rage, but these true ones cease not to declare the "message of the hour." As did Noah, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, Wycliff, Luther, Wesley and William Branham, so do these witness of the last hour. Every message God ever sent has had to press its way through the muck and mire of religious hatred and opposition. Nevertheless, God suffered not one truth to be stopped. "All that fall upon this stone (revealed truth of the Word) shall be broken (humbled and saved), but all that it falls upon (in judgment) shall be ground to powder." (Matt. 24:44) The Lord is now commanding His servants to give one last worldwide invitation of mercy to the churched and the unchurched. They cannot remain silent except at the peril of their own souls. They must speak, write and persuade. They must live the holy life of faith and separation from the world even as their Lord instructed them. Though the contest grows sharper, they dare not forsake the Word, nor attempt to compromise. Thus, a small minority group will hold in check the complete takeover of evil until the seventh angel's message has done its work. Its truths are still "lightening the earth with its glory" for those who "have ears to hear." And so a work of world-wide extent is still in progress. While God's mercy momentarily holds back the total destruction of the earth, its inhabitants are being called to take their stand either for or against Christ the Word. The true servants of God (His Bride) that have been called out of the denominations, are given a spirit-sent burden to warn those in the systems who believe their church creed rather than God's Word. They warn of a deadly fall toward which the denominational boats are drifting. They speak of the terrible fate awaiting those who join the evil council of churches, warning that all the systems will be forced to join, and that their fellowship with them constitutes the dreaded "mark of the beast." When the seventh angel's message closes, mercy will no longer plead for the unrepentant inhabitants of the earth. The bride will have finished her work. They have received the early and latter rain and are prepared for the great hour of the rapture. The seal of God has been placed upon the last one. Every case has been decided for life or for death. The wheat and the tares have both been bundled, one for the master's garner and one for the fire. Then the Lord Jesus ceases His intercession in the sanctuary above. He lifts His hands and declares, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy (unrepentant) let him be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is Holy let him be Holy still." (Rev. 22:11) At this time, He calls His bride to the marriage supper. When King Jesus has left the sanctuary and the bride is taken up, then darkness covers the people left on earth. The restraint that has been upon the wicked is removed and what we have seen in part is loosed in full. The unchurched, along with the backslidden church, are plunged into the great tribulation known as "the time of Jacob's trouble." (Jerm. 30:5-7) But, it is at this time that the overflowing mercy of God is once again shown. He sends two prophets to Israel to call out 144,000 Jews. (Rev. 11:3) At this time, He also remembers that some of His virgins, those without the Holy Ghost oil, have been cast into tribulation (Matt. 25:1-2). For those foolish virgins, the great crisis of their lives has come. They now see that the seventh angel's message was true after all. That it was the voice of Him who held the "seven stars" in His right hand! (Rev. 1:16) These foolish virgins, who had an experience with the Lord before the rapture but received not the Holy Ghost oil and therefore did not go in the rapture, have now entered into a time of terrible anguish! They are in the great tribulation. To their burden of anxiety and fear over having missed the rapture is added the crushing weight of self-reproach. They now realize it was their own closed mind and stubbornness that brought them to this place of danger. Their predicament is indeed grave as the serpent casts water out of his mouth, that he might cause the remnant of the woman's seed to be carried away of the flood. (Rev. 12:16) (The flood types the world-wide army of the beast sent to enforce the mark of the beast.) The testimony of these foolish virgins without the oil is now changing. They had expected to be raptured, but now the stark reality of their terrible plight floods their soul. They fall on their faces before God and truly repent over their past foolishness (their love of the world). As helpless, weeping seekers they plead for mercy! Unknown to them, this was the very purpose for which their loving father had cast them into tribulation. They must be "purged" and their robes made white. (Rev. 7:14) Although it is too late for these to be the Bride, God does not relinquish His purpose to give eternal life to those who turn to Him before death. Now in the darkness of their night, they receive a divine visitation. The seventh angel's message is revealed to them, even as it will be to the 144,000 Jews, by the preaching of the two prophets of Rev. 12:11. They now understand that they rejected the God-sent message for their age. With broken hearts and contrite spirits, they recall the Word they heard against their dead church systems, and also the message of holiness they rejected. While surrounded by enemies bent upon their destruction, God pours in His Holy Ghost oil. As His spirit floods their beings, they receive faith and courage to testify for truth, though it will cost them their lives. Though suffering the keenest persecution and faced with death itself, they do not cease their testimony. They lay hold of the strength of God, as Jacob laid hold of the angel long ago. The language of their soul has become "I will not let go of thy Word oh Lord." Jacob's history is an assurance to them that God will not cast off those who have been deceived, tempted and betrayed into sin when they return to Him with true repentance. While the anti-Christ church and government hunt down and kill these foolish virgins (Rev. 13:7), God's love for His children is strong during their trial and He sends His angels to comfort and strengthen them in their death. Lest some be fooled into thinking that this message is an inducement to wait until tribulation to secure your soul, let it be said that the most vivid imagination cannot reach out to understand the ordeal awaiting the foolish virgins. Satan will be given power over those who have yielded to his control and he will plunge the inhabitants of earth into one, great final trouble. As God ceases to hold in check the fierce tides of man's fallen nature, all the force of strife will be let loose. The whole world will be involved in ruin, more terrible than that, which fell upon Jerusalem of old. There are devils out of hell now ready and only waiting for divine permission to spread desolation and death around the globe. It is this chaos that the foolish virgins must endure. Because they refused to learn the lessons of faith that God sent their way, they will now be forced to learn them under terrible pressure and unimaginable discouragement. Dear friends, "now" is the time to aquaint ourselves with the Lord by standing on His promises and proving His Word. The standard of righteousness, God's Word, having been removed, men will practice all manner of sin without restraint. They will shrink from no crime in order to fulfill their lust. "By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood." (Hosea 4:2) When the Bride is gone and the church natural is being purged by the great tribulation, Hosea declared, "There will be no let up in the shedding of blood! Murders will continue day and night until "Blood from one murder runs into the blood of the next murder!" Yes, the carnal church (foolish virgins) will seal their testimony with their blood. Wherever they seek refuge they will be hunted as beasts of prey. They must reap what they sowed in the days before the rapture. Their unbelief in the seventh angel's message is now required of them, even though they have now received it. But a voice comes down to them from Heaven, even as it spoke to those of old, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." (Rev. 2:10) As the faithful little bride laid her life on the altar in a spiritual sense and was raptured, so now must these lay their lives on the altar in a physical sense in order to obtain eternal life. They are not bride. They will miss the thousand-year reign on earth with Christ. They are not resurrected until the thousand years are over. (Rev. 20:5) Those who exercise but little faith now are in the greatest danger of ending up in this foolish virgin group. Because they never made it a habit to trust God, rejecting the lessons of faith wherein God would have trained them, now, in the tribulation, they will be forced to learn under a terrible time of pressure and discouragement. This time of trouble such as never was before is soon to be upon the world. In order to miss it and go in the rapture, we will need an experience with God that many do not now possess. It is often the case that trouble is greater in forethought than in reality, but this is not true of the crisis before us. God's long-suffering will have ended. The world rejected His mercy, despised His prophet and trampled upon God's law out of His mouth. The wicked will have passed the boundary of their probation and the Lord withdraws His protection. They are left to the mercy of the leader they have chosen. Satan will be given power over those who yielded to him. Jesus, while on earth, looked down to the last generation. He saw the world enclosed in terrible sins, similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ. The great sin of the last age would be their rejection of a major prophet that this Christ spoke through. The precepts of God would be despised and set at naught. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, both in and out of the churches, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness, and strange spirits would be upon the people. The disciples had been filled with wonder at Christ's prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. He who would have at that time foretold publicly its destruction, would like Noah in his day, have been called a crazy alarmist. But, Israel had put from her the preferred gift of heaven. With the humbled Christ who had that day passed out of its golden gate, had also passed out the glory of God from the temple! Already were fulfilled the Savior's words, "Your house is left unto you desolate." (Matt. 23:38) In the same way He who would at this time declare the total destruction of America, will be considered a crazy alarmist. In Herod's reign, Jerusalem had been fortified and strengthened until it was considered impregnable, but the words of Jesus could not fail and there was left not one stone upon another. Our nation, at one time the greatest on earth, has been considered impregnable, but again the words of the Lord will not fail! In Rev. 13:11-17 , we see our nation beginning as a Lamb, under Godly presidents such as Washington and Lincoln. But the scripture says we eventually grew horns and spake as a dragon. Our federal judges are doing all they can to remove God's name out of public life. The blood of unborn children running in our sewers, and is approved by our president. And this, according to scripture, is finally enforcing the terrible "mark of the beast", which is the forced joining of a world church system. God's judgment is already falling on our nation. Our total destruction is coming into view. God's final plea for His own to come out of the carnal church systems is now in progress. May it fall upon those who have ears to hear. Amen.