Antichrist is the effort to make man the center of the universe. The False Prophet is the spirit of religious deception, the attempt of people acting in their own soulish wisdom and strength to imitate the power and righteousness of Christ. The False Prophet will assist Antichrist in setting up a one-world government.

The False Prophet is Christianity minus the personal cross of the believer.

In the end, the kings of the earth who give their power and strength to Antichrist will make Babylon "desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." This means that the forces of the world finally will turn against the huge Christian organization. By that time the worldly church will have become wealthy and powerful, a threat to Antichrist. Until then, Babylon and Antichrist will join hands in the effort to corrupt the Wife of the Lamb.

Laodicea received no praise from the Lord. Yet it was one of the seven lampstands of God and can attain the throne of Christ if it repents and serves Christ.

Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the institutional spirit of Babylon never were and never shall be of God. The spirit of Babylon is revealed in the Catholic Church and in her daughters, the Protestant churches. They all are spiritual prostitutes, selling their favors in the attempt to please the world.

None of the seven churches of Revelation, Chapters Two and Three, is the Wife of the Lamb. The members of the Wife of the Lamb are the victorious saints in the seven churches, and in the last days these victorious saints will be separated from the churches on the earth.

The purpose of the great tribulation is to pressure each of the Lord's chosen people to such an extent he or she becomes part of the holy minority. Those who do not become part of the end-time holy remnant will take their place in the Laodicean majority, will become part of Babylon, and will "drink of the wine of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:10).

No middle ground is acceptable or even possible. The way of the Lord must be made straight.

The Lord Jesus appears in a different manner to each of the seven churches. The way in which He comes to each church has to do with the issues associated with the particular church.

Notice how the Lord Jesus appears to Laodicea:

As the Amen.

As the faithful and true Witness.

As the Beginning of the creation of God.

The Amen

The Lord Jesus Christ is the "Amen" of God. Jesus always affirms all that God Is, all that God has spoken, all that God wills and plans. In Christ there is no wavering whatsoever. "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of God by us" (II Corinthians 1:20).

We Christians also are to be the Amen of God. Whatever God has stated, that is what is true as far as we are concerned. There is to be no doubting, no wavering. No matter what our surroundings seem to indicate is true we are to hold fast to what God has spoken.

To be continued.