But who, okay, let's get down to what is chapter 17 about? Revelation 17 is the harlot is the apostate church of human religion. I personally believe the tribulations apostate church will be a form of the Roman Catholic Church merged together with all the other religions of the world. You say, why would you think? That is not very nice to say. It isn't very nice to say. We have Islam, we have Buddhism, we have science, we have Judaism, we have paganism, we have the Wiccan, and we have Christianity. Satan's goal is to abandon the truth of the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross and let people kind of have a salad bar to make their own way to God. What's interesting is the Roman Catholic Church is working diligently day and night on this. This isn't a very nice picture, but when Bonnie and I were teaching in November in Italy, I took our class on a field trip, and we went to Assisi. That's one of the prettiest places you can go in Italy. This is the Peace Garden of Assisi. This is the Peace Bell. This is what's written on the bell. And I'll just read it to you. This is what the Dalai Lama said on June 29th, 2001. This is what Pope Benedict XVI said on April 4th, 03. And this is what the Grand Mufti of Cairo said in 05. And basically the Peace Bell is saying we agree that we believe there is a way we all can agree on to God. We agree that the one way isn't right and that there's more than one way to God. And so guess what surrounds that peace belt? This is the Peace Garden. And what they've done is, everyone Rome has brought to Assisi, to this interfaith conference center, has been allowed to bring their way to God. And so, here, I'll take you. I walk the students through this place. This is from, well, this is Judaism, Taoism. This is from the Greek people, you know, the wing gods of Greece. And then we get into the Mesoamericans. Here's normal Roman Catholic Mary and Jesus. And then we get into the East Asian stuff. Well, here's the Pope. And then they have the, you know, the obelisks from Egypt. And if we keep going, we get into the Polynesian and East Asian and Central. Oh, there's the labyrinth from the Minoans. And here's the stuff from Easter Island. I mean, you just, it's enough to make you sick to see that they say, There's gonna be a way we can get all religions to agree on something. And you know what they almost all agree on? The Moslems agree with the Roman Catholics on Mary. And so did the Central American mystery religions, the Aztecs, the Incas, all of them had mother-son deities. So did the Babylonians, Tammuz, Ishtar, you know, the whole mother-son thing. is going to get them together. So what's Satan's goal? Abandon God's way, that Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God in human flesh, incarnated, has the one way to heaven. Abandon that, and coexist, and stop rocking the boat, and don't think that Islamic people aren't going to heaven, and Buddhist people aren't going to heaven, and those that are secular scientists aren't going to heaven, and that Jews that don't receive Christ aren't going to heaven, and that witches, and Wiccans, and pagans, and that only Christians go to heaven. That's Satan's goal. Whoa, do you remember what happened at the end of Trump's time? The Abraham Accords? I think it went right by, and because people don't like Trump, they didn't even think. Part of what's happening in Abu Dhabi is that they're building together a mosque, a synagogue, and a church. to show we can all get together, the three monolithic, monotheistic global religions. Guess what else? Those of you that were just in Israel, you all noticed what this is. This is the Dome of the Rock. This is the second holiest spot of Islam. That's Al-Aqsa. Guess what? There are some spaces still up there on the Temple Mount. There's room for where the temple should be, because this is the Eastern Gate. Josephus, General Josephus, was fighting and was actually with them and he was writing a chronicle of Roman history. He stood on Mount of Olives and he turned and he said, I looked through the eastern gate and saw the temple before Titus destroyed it. So the temple wasn't there. Most likely it was over here. And they get that from the degree angle that Herod always marked all of his buildings with. Hebron has it and Jerusalem has it. Everywhere he built, he put a very unique angle in the corners that is not a 90 degree. And if you triangulate, it's very, very possible you could see through the eastern gate the temple. It could be over there, but I think it's probably going to be there. Guess what else you can fit up there? Do you know how the Antichrist is going to do it? He's going to leave Islam, he's going to add Judaism, and going to put something for Christians. His church. And he's going to put his image up in there. So, what is Satan's plan? Well, starting in verse 17, look at what his plan is. Or I mean, verse seven. Why do you marvel? I tell you the mystery. The woman, the beast that carries her has seven heads and 10 horns. And the beast that you saw and is not will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. So remember, Antichrist is indwelt by Satan. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel. I wanted to read this verse. Whose names are not written in the book of life. From the foundation of the world. When they see the beast that was and is not and yet is. What's the book of life? What does that say? The book of life is the, do you know what the book of life is? It's the eternal protection from Satan's lies. Do you know what else you could say the book of life is? It's the eternal registry of truth lovers. Do you know what the second Thessalonians says? that people take the mark of the beast because they would not receive the love of the truth. Do you know what we have here? Every one of us who are born again in this room have something in common. We love the truth. We love the person who is the way, the truth, and the life, and we love what he has said, which is his word. And you say, yeah, but Jesus only said the red words, right? Red letter, no, no. Peter says that the Old Testament prophets were speaking, what did Peter say? By the spirit of Christ that was in them. Did you know that the Old Testament is the spirit of Christ inspired them? Did you know that the New Testament is the Holy Spirit of God inspired them? Did you know that there's only one God? He eternally exists in three persons. There's only one God. And the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit, inspired one book. And that book is truth. And those who are going to have, in Revelation 17, their name written in the Lamb's Book of Life, are eternally recorded as truth lovers. By the way, it's mentioned seven times. Every time the book of life is mentioned in the Bible, it has a different angle. And this one is that it's the list of truth lovers. It's the registry of those who love the truth and thus receive the gospel.