The Great Whore – Part Two
Satan’s greatest weapon against fallen humanity from the beginning has been to offer a counterfeit way of Salvation. If he succeeds in turning men away from God’s true Salvation, which is in Jesus Christ alone, then he will succeed in damning multitudes to eternal darkness. Religion has been his greatest tool and has been given many names. God calls all of it “the great whore.” This term speaks to us today that religion is likened by God to spiritual decadence, spiritual fornication and spiritual adultery.
By Chris McDonald
TEXT Rev. 17:1-2
And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: [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.
As we continue our thoughts on this end-time vision John was given by God on the Isle of Patmos concerning the great whore of religion, let us turn our thoughts to the term “drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
We briefly alluded to the term “spiritual fornication,” in our first journal and showed that any person who has put their faith in anything other than the finished work of Christ is committing spiritual adultery. Even if that “thing” the person is putting their faith in is a “good” thing – it is still spiritual adultery and spiritual fornication. There is a great deal of religious activity today that is “good.” Man’s goodness will NEVER deliver him from the evil that is inside him.
I’m reminded of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power when I write that statement. Hitler promised a poverty-stricken Germany “good” things. He promised them an end to unemployment, a better way of life, a better educational system, a better work environment. He promised to restore Germany’s dignity and honor after many Germans were humiliated by the terms of Versailles Treaty of 1917 following World War I, a war Germany started. The things Hitler promised Germany were “good,” but the price tag for those “good things” was death.
That actually has a great deal of bearing on our journal. Religion promises good things to those who adhere to it. It seeks to grant peace of mind to the weary soul looking for truth and answers. But dead religion will never satisfy the thirst of man’s soul. Man’s soul is so big and there is NOTHING that can fill man’s inner most desires except GOD! And not just any “god,” but the GOD of heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Religion makes people “do” things and most of the time those things are good. It is what John sees this great whore causing – an addiction as strong as someone who is bound by alcohol is to drink.
Someone once said, “the doing of religion is the most powerful narcotic there is.”
That’s the reason it’s impossible to win people to Christ, unless it’s done by and through the power of the Holy Ghost, as He moves upon the truly preached Word of God. The spirit of false religion is so powerful, and because it is nurtured and fostered by Satan, that nothing can break through this shell it provides most people, except the power of the Holy Ghost.
In fact, even the Word of God, preached under the anointing of the Spirit will see precious few results, especially in the times we live in now. I just got off the phone as I write this journal with a precious pastor friend of mine in Southern Georgia. He told me that his church is struggling right now with the faithfulness of its members. Every excuse in the world is given to him when it comes time for church. I told him that the seriousness of the times we live in unfortunately do not motivate people more than they do. Neighbor, we are living in dangerous times! These are the days of harvest, wrath and judgment. The rapture of the church could take place at any second. I know there are a lot of voices out there, many whom I know personally and respect, that may tell you otherwise, but don’t listen.
It’s time to get your heart right with God NOW! NOW is the day of salvation. TODAY if you will listen and NOT harden your hearts, as in the day of provocation, declares the Apostle to the Hebrews (Heb. 3:8,12). Religion will keep folks so bound up by form and ritual that NOTHING that happens in the world will shake them. You can reach that point under the influence and intoxication of this great whore John saw on Patmos.
Paul said, concerning this very thing:
1 Thes. 1:5
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
The Angel said people were “being made drunk,” and “commiting fornication,” with this great whore.
This is not literal immorality or alcohol use, but rather a spiritual condition that has gripped MILLIONS in these last days. We know in the natural sense that fornication is bad. If we can grasp the evil of natural fornication, then we can see the Lord’s anger over the “spiritual” fornication many commit. It is a horrible offense to God for humanity to place their trust for Salvation in anything other than Christ, and what He has done for us at the Cross.
Christianity is quite simple to be frank. It’s not complicated. It is simply that Christ died for us on the Cross, and that we must place our Faith in that in order to be saved, AND TO StAY SAVED!
Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. [2] For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
In fact, many Christians understand the Cross of Christ as it relates to their initial Salvation experience, but precious few have little or no understanding at all as it refers to our ongoing Sanctification and in essence final glorification in the Lord!
Many trust Christ to be saved, but after they get saved, they start trusting “religious works,” to keep them saved. That is called “self,” and “the flesh.” It fools many because most of these works they accomplish in the flesh are very good in their own right and way. That’s why John likens an addiction to religion as we would in the natural to a drunken person addicted to alcohol. The great whore causes that to take place by her “delicacies.”
As simple faith in Christ guarantees us Salvation, it also guarantees us victory and ongoing victory at that during these dark days of spiritual declension and apostasy in the so-called modern church. Anything outside of Christ is “spiritual adultery,” and “spiritual fornication.” In laymen’s terms this always leads us to “self” righteousness, which is a horrible state to be in as it relates to the Lord. The Lord hates the proud, but gives GRACE to the humble!
Prov 3:34 - He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. (NIV)
James 4:6 - But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (NIV)
1 Pet 5:5 - Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." (NIV)
Romans 7:1-4
Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? [2] For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. [3] So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. [4] Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
People who are self-righteous in their walk with God after conversion are people who have rejected true faith in the Cross and have placed it in “themselves.” It’s a tragic vicious cycle that can guarantee one defeat at the hands of the enemy.
I want to make a couple of statements right here along those lines. I hear ministers quite frequently brag over television how Satan is just a “roaring lion,” seeking whom he may devour. Many of these same preachers exclaim the fact that we as believers have authority over the enemy and we can tell Satan what to do anytime we desire to.
There is an ounce of truth in that statement but hear me right here and now. It may save your life and possibly your soul later! The ONLY authority the believer has over the enemy is the authority Christ has given us – AS A RESULT OF WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED AT THE CROSS! The powers of darkness were defeated THERE!
If one has put his/her faith in anything else that individual will find out very quickly that the enemy has more than just a “roar.” They will find themselves bound by every power of darkness imaginable under heaven and without a clue how to get free. Religion will always give you a formula to get you out of the mess you’re in, true Christianity sets you free! True Christian faith is faith placed in the source of man’s victory – be it non-believer OR believer.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
We have this moronic notion in the Body of Christ that there are two sets of rules – one for “them,” and one for “us.” The “them” is usually those people who smoke, dip, cuss and drink and who, because they don’t come to our social gatherings on Sunday we call church, are looked down on by many in the congregation as the “sinners,” out there who need to hear our “message.” The “us” are those who probably fill the front row of churches Sunday after Sunday and yet have hidden sins and bondages in their hearts and lives and yet cannot find any more freedom than those out in rank sin and darkness.
2 Pet 2:19-22
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.
22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
There are not two sets of rule when it comes to victory. The enemy does not “buke,” when we rebuke him if we are not anchored in the authority Christ has given us. We have given him legal right to do what he is doing in our lives by our “spiritual adultery,” and “spiritual fornication,” with the whore! That sounds blunt and tough but friend it will keep you and I out of hell!
If we don’t live by God’s prescribed order of victory we are going to suffer loss and bondage. Satan wants us to lose our souls through sin and rebellion. If he can tempt us and bring us into bondage and do it long enough without deliverance from above, he will override our will and we will find ourselves in the same pit as those outside the church that we probably judge in the worst type way because they “appear” to be less holy than we.
The hardest thing to be delivered from at times though is the root of this defeat – and that is the root of pride and self-righteousness. We hardly ever see it in ourselves. We take for granted that because God may be blessing in one area of our lives that He is pleased with the other areas of our lives that we’re living under the control of the flesh in. I may be preaching the gospel and seeing great souls come to Christ but if I’m angry to the point I cuss my wife out when I get home after the meetings – eventually God is not going to bless me at all. That anger will eventually take so control of me that it will stop being my wife that I’m cussing at but someone else. That may not be the best example but I hope you get the point. Jude tells us to HATE the garment even “spotted” by the flesh:
Jude 1:20-23 - But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, [21] Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. [22] And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
The enemy could care very little about what we “do” on Sundays. He cares very little about what we “say” with our mouths. The confession principle is a scriptural principle if we are placing our faith in the cross of Christ and NOT our confession. Many Christians say the name of Jesus and use it as some magic talisman thinking it will ward off evil spirits while never really trusting in that name in their hearts. Others think “shouting” at the devil will make him go away – it won’t. There seems to be this sentiment among many preachers that spiritual warfare is a game of “cowboys” and “Indians.” We get on one side with our “guns,” and Satan is on his side with “arrows,” and if we shoot our guns loud enough then the Indians will run away. Neighbor, that is foolishness and the reason millions are in serious spiritual trouble today in the church.
I’m not being callous in these statements. I hurt for you who are reading this in bondage. I’ve fought this same battle. I still fight this battle at times. Our fight though is not against sin anymore – it’s the “fight of faith!” If we’re fighting sin friend, we have already lost! Why? Because if sin is “reigning,” in our mortal bodies, then our faith has been anchored somewhere else than the cross of Christ for our deliverance and peace. Paul said “SIN SHALL NOT have dominion over you,” yet sin has dominion over millions of Christians in the church world today.
These Christians are godly people, most are I should say. They are not hypocrites, even though some may be, the majority of these people who are struggling are not people who want to be struggling, they want to be free. You may be reading this journal right now and at this point say “that is me.” You have a problem, a bondage, a sin in your life that has taken control of you and no matter what you’ve tried in the past to get free from it it just keeps coming back and there is no relief. Your freedom is in the same place you found your initial freedom from sin in the first days of your walk with God – AT THE CROSS! Go the Lord, “reckon yourselves DEAD,” to that sin through the power of shed blood of Christ. You don’t live any longer friend, Christ lives through you, and with Him there is NO sin! There is NO defeat in HIM. There is no struggle with Him. How do I know that? Because He is SEATED at the right hand of God RESTING from His works, interceding for those of us who place our trust in Him today and His finished work that we may enter into His REST and REFRESHING!
Hebrews 4:1-4
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. [2] For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. [3] For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. [4] For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
Isaiah 28:11-13
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. [12] To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. [13] But the word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
I am reminded of a story that illustrates how God views self-righteousness very graphically. A minister of a large non-denominational, yet charismatic, church said he and his wife met a local business owner in the community who was over 60 years old and had NEVER darkened the door of a church. . The lady was in her mid-60s and had NEVER darkened the door of any church period. She had never been saved and in graphic terms was, how shall we put this diplomatically, a “below” raiser! She had a profanity problem and was always uttering curse words to those around her. She also had a problem with alcohol and had been divorced two or three times. Her current husband was about as rowdy as her but not quite!
As this minister persisted with each visit, he’d always act kindly to her and invite her to his church. He and his wife would purchase goods from her store and each time they’d leave the pastor would gently invite her and say “you’re always welcome at our church, Jesus loves you and we do too.” Of course at the first the response would have made a retired sailor proud, but with each visit the woman’s wall came down. One Sunday morning low and behold this lady in her 60s came in by herself dressed rather nicely and sat in the back of the church.
The preacher spoke that morning on the woman at the well of all things. As he gave the altar call, he noticed the lady in the back, who was in a church for the first time EVER in her entire life, and tears were rolling down her cheek. She clung to the pew bench very hard at first but on the third verse of the invitation hymn she started coming down.
Some sixty years of bitterness, disappointment, hurt, bondage, darkness and sin were broken that morning over her by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. She became “born again,” like the Bible said. She didn’t have a church background and upon hearing the message of what Christ had done for her at the cross, as she said later in her testimony, “I had never heard of such love coming from any person in my entire life. I knew I had to know this man for myself.”
As this dear lady was getting up from the altar, tears running down her face, she accidentally slipped in her high heel shoes she had never worn before and fell to the floor. The fall didn’t hurt her but as she went down and got up she uttered the words, “OH S------.” I’ll leave that to your imagination to fill in that blank.
The pastor heard it, the deacons heard it and most of the church in the front heard it. The pastor didn’t acknowledge it at all and just went with the service praising God for this lady’s salvation.
As the service ends, his deacons meet him as he leaves and ask, “What are you going to do about that lady cussing in our church?” The pastor was taken aback by their comments and said “well, I really don’t know what to do about it right now, let me pray about it this afternoon and I’ll get back with you tonight.” In the pastor’s testimony the deacons who were the angriest over it were the same ones who expressed the least joy over this woman getting saved.
The pastor went home, knelt down and as he thanked God for this woman’s salvation. I mean friend, this was a salvation experience out of the book of Acts. Sixty years and never darkened the door of a church, yet totally born again in a moment’s time. That’s the power of Christ! That’s the power of this mighty gospel that Jesus saves, Jesus heals, Jesus delivers from sin, Jesus baptizes in the Holy Ghost and Jesus is coming again.
The pastor asks the Lord, “Lord, what do I do about Sister Smith’s (not her name) expletive she uttered this morning? Do I say anything to her? Do I address this at all or leave it alone? I mean Lord, she is saved this morning and yet five minutes after salvation she utters this word”
The pastor said in his testimony that the Lord was absolutely silent to his first request so he kept asking again and again throughout the day about what to do. He said, “Lord, I know she is a new Christian but do we talk to her and tell her that you can’t cuss in church?” The pastor’s inward battle was more in response to the deacon’s pressure for him to deal with this matter yet he himself said later that he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
After several hours in the afternoon of being troubled, the pastor went to the Lord a third time and asked again. This time the Holy Spirit spoke to this minister’s heart. He said the words were as clear as if he were writing them on a piece of paper:
“Leave her alone. I’d rather have a new “S…….” in your church that a self-righteous, crusty old Hundai Shundai!”
The pastor got the message. He said that was all the Lord needed to say. Of course it took him about 3 hours to wonder if Satan had told him that or God but that is another issue we won’t get into here in this journal (I’m dying laughing retelling this story).
You see friend, God is not concerned about that young Christian out there who has their faith in the right place yet through the growing, stumbling processes of Christian maturity may stumble all over the place. As long as their heart and faith are in the cross, the Holy Spirit will work with them. What DOES make God angry is our self-righteous attitudes like these deacons who had been in church ALL their lives yet probably had hearts that were darker than midnight and were a million miles away from God. Yet they would judge this poor soul who had gloriously gotten saved because she fell and uttered a cuss word while getting up from the altar. I hope you caught what the Lord said to the pastor. He said He’d rather have a new something than a crusty old self-righteous hundai shundai.
Some of us speak in tongues, shout, run up and down aisles and are as self-righteous as can be. Our noses stick up in the air higher than the Empire State building and we think we’re oh, so, holy. We brag in arrogance how the enemy can’t touch us and that in itself is SIN! It’s called PRIDE. It’s called arrogance and it stinks in the nostrils of God.
Let me tell you how God feels about self-righteousness. When David, the great singer of Israel committed adultery with Bathsheba it was a horrible thing he did in the sight of God. On top of adultery he had the woman’s husband murdered to cover it up and did this dispacable act without any note of remorse or repentance. His callousness was so great that when news got back of Urriah’s death, David coldly said “the Lord takes one in battle, and one He saves.” That’s religion for you. Justifying sin with scripture and placing God’s name on it.
The punishment for this sin was great too. David and Bathsheba had a baby who was stricken by God the Bible says and it died. And as a result of this David’s kingdom was never the same. Two people died as a result of David’s immorality.
But later on in David’s life, David got puffed up and started thinking his strength was in Israel’s military numbers so he had his tough-as-nails general, Joab, go out and number the people. Joab, a heathen by all accounts who could have cared less about the God of Israel, told David, “this is wrong.” The event as recorded in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 21) tells us that “Satan,” caused David to number the people. It was a horrible act in the sight of God.
Look at the two events. One David sleeps with another man’s wife and kills her husband. Another event he takes a census. From the church’s point of view that’s a no brainer as to which is worse. We all would immediately say “the adultery and murder.” God said “the census.” You see not just two people died after the census, but 85,000 of Israel’s finest fighting men perished in the plague that was sent after God sent judgment because of David’s self-righteous act and arrogance.
Friend, let that sink in. We in the church we applaud those among us who look holy, upright and just but NO MAN CAN SEE THE HEART EXCEPT GOD. The worst of sinners out there are the greatest candidates for God’s grace while the most “righteous” among us who appear to be above reproach may have the darkest of hearts and the worst motives. God looks at the heart, not the outside. It’s a simple lesson, but one we have seemed to have forgotten about in the church.
This opposition to the plan of Salvation by Satan through causing man to become self-righteous started with our first parents and their first son, Cain and it will culminate in the great whore of Revelation. Self-righteousness will send you to hell friend. Self-righteousness crucified our Lord. Self-righteousness caused Israel to stumble over her Messiah and King. And self-righteousness is causing the church to apostasize in these last days. We are seeing the beginnings of the falling away prophesied by Paul to the Thessalonians nearly 2000 years ago. That is how late the hour is friend.
I want to close the second part of this three-part journal here by saying this. Satan’s greatest method against God’s true operations and moving in the earth today is the same method he has used for millenniums – organized religion. Organized religion is sending more people to hell than drugs. Organized religion is sending more people to hell than alcohol. The root of all organized religion is unbelief in the cross of Christ. Religion says “I’ll go to heaven MY way, instead of YOUR way, God.” Religion says, “I can refine myself without the cross of Christ.” Religion says, “I don’t need to repent, I just need a new environment, a new church, a new job, a new wife, a new husband. If I get those things then I’ll be different.” That’s deception and delusion and its gripping millions in these last hours before Christ comes.
I’m not worried about those who stuggling in their faith yet have it anchored in the right place. Victory is on the way. I AM worried about those who have forsaken the truth and have fallen prey to the great whore and spiritual fornication. It’s not the local drug pusher we need to be concerned with as much as it is the deacon on the front row who is lost and away from God. Neighbor this battle is real and its about eternity. I pray everyone reading this journal today is born again. I pray you have not succumbed to the influence of the great whore of religion. It’s getting late neighbor, it’s getting late. Shalom.
Heavenly Father, we pray today for everyone reading this journal. I pray the high sherrif of heaven is seeking out those who need a touch from heaven. Convict of sin Holy Spirit. Reveal the areas of our life where religion has gripped us and we have come under the influence of the great whore. We need to be spiritual people, not religious ones Lord. We need CHRIST, not another doctrine to adhere to. We have lost our way Father and we need YOUR LIGHT to show us the paths to bring us home to you.
Thank you for your grace and mercy to us in these hours head.
In Your Name we pray. Amen.
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Earnestly Contending For The Faith
The Last Message Of Jesus Christ
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