Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 150

May 30;    Revelation 17:1;    150/260(II);    ‘Religion, The Great Harlot’  

Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,

‘Mystery Babylon the Great Harlot (v5) is the religious system of the devil that the Lord Jesus will expose.  There is one way to heaven.  That is by having a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This relationship is not religion.  Because the Lord Jesus and God the Father and the Bible are involved in our relationship with Jesus, the world labels this religion along with everything else that has to do with God.  Notice in this verse, the great harlot sits on many waters.  There are all kinds of religions and the devil uses all of them to deceive people.  There is a deep, spiritual desire in the heart of all of us to know and find God.  Our mortal enemy, satan, knows this and has substituted all kinds of religion and beliefs that deceive.  The devil will wake you up and tell you to go to church.  This is his greatest deception.  He wants you to go to church, as long as the church you go to does not preach Jesus and that He is the only way to heaven.  Religion is a perfect counterfeit.  Those who represent God may be sincere, but if they have not been taught the Bible or if they may represent a different religion all together, they cannot help you spiritually.  In fact what they teach could cause someone to go to hell, thinking they are right with God, because their religion or church tell them that they are, when they are not.  Often different religions feel justified to kill those who do not believe what they do.  Others are persecuted and shunned if the leave a particular religion.  Know the Bible, it is Jesus and only Jesus.