Who is the Beast of Revelation 13 & 17? (Part 3)

A fourth parallel, looking to the Revelation account, is that the harlot is "drunk" with two forms of intoxicants. First, "the wine of her fornication" (17:2), and second, "the blood of the saints" (17:6). There is no need to document that throughout the history of Europe, every uniting power that has established hegemony since Rome has been drunk with the wine of fornication, and has usually been looked on by the world as the “mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations” (17:6).

When the Roman Empire was strong, the first 14 Roman emperors were known homosexuals, and had an entire harem of slaves designated to satisfy their every whim. Nero even had a youth named Sporus, castrated, and reserved for the purpose of satisfying his own abominable lusts.

Then, during the age when Catholicism was strong, one of the catalysts behind Martin Luther's drive for reform was the debauchery and decadence practiced by the clergy. Julius II, and Pope Leo X were known to have numerous mistresses, the knowledge of which turned Luther's stomach. Today's Europe speaks for itself.

Europe is also "drunk with the blood of the saints." This cannot refer exclusively to the Roman Catholic massacre of Christians, as many interpreters of Revelation believe. Certainly, Catholocism has played a large role in the history of Europe. An estimated 68 million were killed during the 1,200 years of Inquisition and most of them were dissenting Christians. However, the Catholic church's power and influence today is barely a blip on the radar screen for most Europeans. Yet, the drunken stupor that is left has by no means diminished. Just look at the current policy of government sanctioned infanticide seen in the cruel aborting of countless unwanted lives, and now, in many cases, euthenasia. Also, consider the rabid-rhetoric against Christianity that has characterized the curriculum in most university campuses since post-Enlightenment Europe. Even in seminaries, charged with the responsibility of educating clergy, the Bible has been completely disparaged as nothing more than a book written by men. It is clear that the universities which have shaped the current face of Europe have made it their raison d’ etre to stamp out any influence Christianity may have.

Indubitably, Europe has a well documented history of being drunk with the blood of the saints. Furthermore, this addiction to the blood of the saints is particularly intoxicating because it frees them from all restraints to be drunk with the wine of their fornications. The thought of being able to endulge your every whim with no Bible-thumping preachers left to tell you you’re going to Hell is hugely intoxicating.

Richard Dawkins, who teaches at Oxford, even admits this in his recent, New York Times bestseller, The God Delusion. In this emotional attack on Christianity, he not only calls anyone who believes in God, "deluded," but wishes to write a set of moral laws for binding for all Atheists; the first one is basically, "let everyone endulge their own sexual preference in their own privacy, regardless of how outlandish these preferences may be. It is nobody else's business."

Dawkin's idea that religion is nothing more than the supression of man's fulfillment is a growing sentiment among readers. In the past three months, there have been three books topping the New York Times bestseller list, heralding Atheism: Dawkin's, The God Delusion; Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great; and Sam Harris', Breaking the Spell.

The odd thing about Dawkin's emotionally charged satire against Christianity is that Christianity has declined so rapidly that it is a byword in England. How cowardly is it to beat up on an elderly, almost extinct opponant? The influence of the church is only a tiny wimper when you consider that Atheists are now filling its pulpits. That's right! Men like Don Cupitt are Atheists, and ordained ministers in the Church of England, if you can swallow that!

But compare this to the fiery picketing of Muslims on the streets of London, who, in a recent episode, chanted, "bomb, bomb, UK", while burning effigies of the Queen in public. Compare it to the recent survey that showed all thirty mosques in London now filled beyond capacity every Friday during prayer. To make London more representative of the new Muslim populous, blueprints have already been drawn up to build the Markaz, a mosque that would accommodate 70,000 Muslims; a project being spearheaded by a group known as Tablighi Jamaat, which has had known ties to terrorists. When one tunes in to the 2012 Olympics in London, they will find that Islam will have become more distinctively "English" than the Queen herself being driven up to the front steps in her motorcade. Conveniently enough, the Markaz is being built right next door to the stadium.

It is ironic that all three of these books on Atheism made numerous references to the God of Christianity, even citing the term Yahweh as the butt of their sarcastic tone. Yet, in at least one of these books I have looked at, no references can be found in these books which single out the word, Allah. Maybe they are too drunk on their fantastic voyage away from reason to realize the true identity of the beast.

To give them some credit, they are right in conspicuously leaving out Allah from their rants. After all, the beast (Islam), to whom Europe will one day give their total allegience once Muslims have amassed a population formidible enough to have their way, will be anything but the enemy. To the contrary, Islam will be their banner in war against their true enemy. That's right! According to the prophecy in Revelation 17:14, the beast makes war with the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. The very same enemy that Richard Dawkins and many other emboldened Atheists have already declared war upon in their writings.

Look at Revelation 17 carefully and notice that the refined harlot & mother of fornications (Europe in my hypothesis), is said to unite with the savage, scarlet beast (Islam in my hypothesis) when she mounts him to ride, and then the seven mountains upon which she sits combine their power with his (17:11). Then, as one united front, they make war with the Lamb (17:14). Is it not interesting that today, Atheism and Islam, while appearing wildly different, share the same enemy, Jesus Christ, and are both fighting the same enemy in 2007; one with the pen, and the other with the sword.

Yes, Islam may be conspicuously absent from the rants against religion because Islam is nothing more than a pawn in the hand of their true enemy which is Yahweh; the God of the Bible. Hence, the time is coming when Europe will be united in empowering the beast, but the beast cannot overpower the lamb, "For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (17:14). Just read the end of Revelation 17. Christ wins!

Don't misunderstand me. Islam is Europe's enemy if they care anything about preserving their civilization, but it is certainly not their most formidable enemy. Their most formidable enemy is God. In fact, all of us, before coming to Christ in the spirit of brokenness and repentance are at war with God. Therefore, making peace with God is why I am in ministry. I must plead with all men to "kiss the son, lest he be angry; when his wrath is kindled but a little, blessed are all they that put their trust in him" (Psalm 2:12).

Some of you reading this are no doubt repulsed by what I have just said, having the audacity to place “God” and “enemy” in the same sentence. But this is the message of Romans 5:10-11, which says that “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” What bold language. This language reminds us of how serious sin is to God. We cannot continue to embrace our sin and be so presumptuous as to call ourselves the friend of God. This text says that we all start out on the same front of resistance against God whether Muslim, Pagan, Vegan, Baptist, European, or American. We are the “enemy” of God until reconciled with God.

How liberating is it to know that although we are enemies of God because of our sin, we can be reconciled and made at peace with God by receiving Christ. When the cup of God’s wrath should have been poured out on each one of us because of our sin, it was instead poured out on Christ when he died on the Cross. (Psalm 2, 5:4-5, 7:9-13, 11:5-6, Acts 4:26-27, Romans 3:18-27, 5:9-11, II Corinthians 5:20, Colossians 1:21-22, I Peter 2:24).

We can either accept that Christ already paid the penalty for our sins and be saved, or we can pay that penalty ourselves through an eternity in Hell (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:10-15). This is the gospel and it needs to be preached with the greatest urgency ever. This is the gospel Paul preached when he pleaded, “We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God” (II Corinthians 5:20).

How can you be reconciled to someone you have no beef with? The word itself denotes two variant parties making peace, and ending strife. If you have never acknowledged that your sin is a big deal and are willing to turn away from your sin, pray right now and ask God to forgive you. He is merciful and promises that ““everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Some may be thinking, “I’ve never even heard this idea. I've never heard that I'm an enemy of God.” It is a message that has certainly been neglected by most preachers more interested in their own praises than the praise of God, and for fear that they might offend. But as you have already found if you have done your homework, and looked at all the texts mentioned above, it is impossible to avoid. This idea is at the core of the gospel. Therefore, if it is not preached with heart-felt tears, there is no hope that healing will ever come to our world.

It is not certain whether we are already seeing the tipsy harlot described in Revelation 17:3 mounting the scarlet beast. But if it is, I can promis you this: she will be requited with far more than a DUI.

Nor is it certain that the harlot represents Europe/Western Civilization. It isn’t even certain that the beast must point to the inevitable rise of Islam we are seeing in Europe. As I have shown, these ideas seem to have good support, but need to be held with some skepticism in light of the symbolic language it rests upon.

Remember that the genre of Revelation is apocalyptic, which uses symbolic language, but points to a literal truth. Hence, because it is easy to read one’s own ideas into symbols, it can be easily misinterpreted, as it often has.

Nevertheless, what is especially certain is that the glorious gospel that proclaims we can be reconciled with God is the only hope for our age, and if you are not yet reconciled to Him, don’t wait another minute.