This calls for wisdom and understanding. Revelation 17:10.

 To bring you up to speed, let me take you back to Revelation 17:3.

So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. (NLT)

We are given a rather detailed description of this woman.

The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand, she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. (Revelation 17:4 NLT)

• “She wears purple and scarlet clothing.”

  This is highly symbolic and, among other things, represents the blood of the saints who will be martyred during the time of wrath.

  A friend read my last post on Revelation 17 and did what I wish most of you would do, analyze the symbolism and begin to grasp how the governing bodies, many of which seem to operate above the law, are actually doing us harm and creating the shortages that will play a role in the deaths of millions.

  So what can we ascertain of this woman?

  • It is NOT a woman but an attractive entity that feeds our lusts.

  • Purple is representative of power.

    In a previous post,   I broke down a simplistic word – king. These days it leans more toward a ruling body. There are very few countries that still have a king as the ruling body, but there are many that have multi-body voting groups, that often exclude the public's opinion. Perhaps men like Putin can fill the role of a king because to cross him means that you disappear. Emanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau are apparently striving to hold those supreme positions should they become available.

    Along the lines of people who have power. Just this morning 01/07/22 I read a quote from Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. He said, shall we tolerate those who refuse to get vaccinated. A website called the Pulse (https://thepulse.one/2022/01/03/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-calls-the-unvaccinated-misogynistic-racist-extremists/) tells us that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on a Quebec television station that “people who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 are often racist and misogynistic extremists.” I looked up the definition of misogynistic and this is what I found. “Someone who is strongly prejudiced against women.” Where did that kind of hateful comment come from? The Pulse website added this assertion. “What type of reasoning is being used to label the unvaccinated as racist and misogynistic? This clearly has no basis in fact and simply continues what seems to be a coordinated political campaign to demonize the unvaccinated.”

  • “ and scarlet clothing”

    We are told that the scarlet clothing is covered in the blood of martyred saints.

    And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of those who were killed because they had been loyal to Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed. (Revelation 17:6 GNB)

    How much blood does it take to soak your clothing? Revelation 7:9 answers the question.

    (NASB) “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; “

    This group is defined in Revelation seven, verses fourteen and fifteen.

    (NASB) “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; (GNB) He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence.”

    The point here is that the woman, clothed in scarlet, is clothed in this color because she is stained with the blood of those this entity or ruling body has killed. I am not suggesting that this is a contest, and yes the majority seems to happen during the seven years after the church is gone, but many will pay for the babies we have allowed to be murdered.

• “and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls.”

  The harlot, called a woman, is an entity. We are NOT to be looking for some woman, as there are NO women listed as a world leader in end times eschatology. I will say that while all these things; jewelry made of gold, along with precious gems and pearls, tend to be associated with women's jewelry, they are representative of financial gain.

  I learned, years ago, that the Rothschild family financed both sides of virtually every “modern” war; and made serious money because of their financial decisions. We are in a war now, and for the most part, we, the general public, will be the bodies left lying in the fields. I see so many more than the Rothschild family involved in this pathetic way of life they are feeding us.

So much for an introduction. Let's move on to verse ten and beyond.

Revelation 17:9-10 GNB  "This calls for wisdom and understanding. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings:  (10)  five of them have fallen, one still rules, and the other one has not yet come; when he comes, he must rule only a little while.

• The seven heads

  These are rulers, whether they be an individual or a tribunal.

• Are seven hills

  I have looked at commentaries and most have the same foolish assertion, that we should be looking at Rome. That is hogwash in my mind. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary answers this as I might.

  “The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (Rev_17:10), and seven geographical mountains.

  (My comments will be bracketed and italicized as I segment this JFB quotation. The hills and the heads are two different things.)

  “The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like “sea” and “earth” and “waters ... peoples”” (Rev_17:15),

  (Revelation 17:15 tells us “...The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.”) (NASB)

  “so “mountains” have a symbolical meaning, namely, prominent seats of power.”

  (This assertion makes the most sense.)

  “Especially such as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God” (Psa_68:16, Psa_68:17; Isa_40:4; Isa_41:15; Isa_49:11; Eze_35:2);

  (Many interpreters speak of this process as being a hindrance to the cause of God. While I contend that followers of Jesus Christ may be targeted, this all changes when I consider this through the scope of the goals of Islam, which declares everyone who lives in America to be people of the book, where the book is thought to be the bible. They don't care if you are an atheist, there will still be a target painted on your back. Another consideration is the denial that we are forced to absorb, as speaking as I am, is considered hate speech.)

  “especially Babylon (which geographically was in a plain, but spiritually is called a destroying mountain,” Jer_51:25),

  (I get upset when bible teachers insist that physical Babylon will be rebuilt. Babylon is a spiritual entity. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown refers to Jeremiah 51:24, 25. "But I will repay Babylon ... O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth," When in fact, this region is known as the plains of Shinar, the opposite of a mountain.)

  “in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isa_2:2), and the heavenly mount; Rev_21:10, “a great and high mountain ... and that great city, the holy Jerusalem.”

  (As I progressed through the Revelation I could see Satan's actions attempting to mock God. For example, God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit, and Satan sees to it that everyone must take the mark of the beast, the antichrist. God, as you can see in Jeremiah 51:25 and Revelation 21:10, that God has His mountains as well.)

• Upon which the woman sits

  We have seen that Babylon is now a spiritual entity that sucks in people and represents power. It is the killing force, and these vaccines may play a role in that killing. We have also seen that hills or in some cases, mountains, are also representative; the evidence for that comes from Babylon being called a mountain, and there is a reference to something like a burning asteroid to strike the earth and it too is called a burning mountain.

  So, the woman, which is representative of power, wealth, and lust sits somewhere. If you are going to make the false assumption that this harlot is a person, then how does she sit in multiple locations at the same time?

  The statement forces you to begin asking how can this be understood?

• They are also seven kings

  Daniel 11 tells us of the “kings of the north and the south.” More specifically the beginnings of the fourth kingdom.

  Several years ago I tried to do a study on Daniel 11 with the men I sit with. I can tell you it was tough, to say the least. Effectively, some of the players in Daniel 11 sound like the old movie Anthony and Cleopatra, as the story is filled with war, assassinations, and inter-marriage for peace.

  If you choose to read Daniel 11, keep in mind that you are reading about the fourth kingdom and that the story projects into our current time frame, but it doesn't exactly spell that out for you. This means you have to read Daniel 11 with intelligence and an open mind and considerations of Daniel's explanation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue, and Daniel's chapter seven and eight.

  One of the best discussions about Daniel 11 comes from the Frontier Alliance Mission and can be found here.
  https://www.faimission.org/wire/special-report-ships-of-kittim

  Portions of Daniel 11 that stand out.

  "Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down. "Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. (Daniel 11:14-15 NASB)

  “Those times” are the times that we are living in. The only thing lacking is Gog (seen in Ezekiel 38) swarming upon Israel. Gog will be slaughtered on the hillsides of the Valley of Achor – Meggido.

  We are told that they, both the North and the South, will attack and capture Israel, the well-fortified city. I know very few people that can comprehend that Israel will just about be wiped out in this battle. Ezekiel 38,39 tells us God will come to Israel's aid destroy many in a firestorm.

  "He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. (Daniel 11:17 NASB)

  If you are a student of eschatology then you know that the antichrist/beast comes to make a peace treaty. He never says that this treaty is a treaty with Israel; that does not mean it can't happen.

  If there was an orchestrated attack on Israel, given what you can see in the news coming from the Mideast, who do you think will attack Israel? I suggest that anything with Islam attached to it will answer the question.

• five of them have fallen, one still rules,

  If John, as we assume, is aware of one of these rulers, then the last has to have a relationship, whether it be politically, nationally, or spiritually with the previous kingdoms. And, the last clue which directs our point of view is the amount of time in which he rules.

• and the other one has not yet come; when he comes, he must rule only a little while.

Forty-two months, or 1260 days.

How or why his tenure is so short is not clearly spelled out in scripture, however, it is spelled out in the prophecies of the Muslims. It is evident that the “false prophet”, or, as the Muslims call him, ʿĪsā ibn Maryam will step in as the enforcer of Sharia. This opens the door to the drastic increase in deaths that Jesus spoke of. 

Sorry, if this disappoints, as I would have liked to gotten farther in the Revelation, but I hit my limit in terms of the amount of information.

The ABC’s of Salvation

A stands for “admit.” We must admit that we are sinners and that we are therefore under God’s judgment.

B stands for “believe.” We must believe that God loves us in spite of our sin and that he has acted in Jesus Christ to remove sin and restore us to himself.

C stands for “commit.” This is an act of faith by which we give up trying to run our own life and instead place ourselves in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again.

And when he comes, he must remain a little while. Revelation 17:9,10.

 We finished our last look at Revelation seventeen by focusing on verse eight and this peculiar riddle. “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction.” The NLT translation reads like this.

“The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction.”

In the last post, I mentioned two controversial things. 

First, I told you that the fourth beast is the same beast we are either on the edge of dealing with or tormented by for some time now. And, it is that portion of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream statue that encompasses everything from the waist down. If you focus on the materials involved, we are talking about bronze, iron, and some clay integrated into the feet. 

Secondly, although this beast initiates with the Grecian empire, it is no longer Grecian when it hits the iron portions. From this point on, the beast takes on the characteristics of the Assyrian empires. So a dead portion could be seen as the Grecian Empire and the death of Alexander; however, under a diminished power, the Grecian empire continues until something dramatic changes it to be entirely Assyrian. So I can’t take my assertion back to Alexander. 

If I wanted to get technical, there is NO change once we reach the iron, except for the clay integrated into the feet. Since the feet promote balance, it is easy to say that the entirety of the statue is unstable. 

“And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died.” (NLT) 

Are we talking about Alexander the great reappearing? 

I don’t think so because he is still dead. The thing that caught the global eye so many years ago was the Islamic empire under the heading of the Ottoman empire. The History channel opened the conversation by immediately referring to them as a Super Power. 

“At the start of World War I, the Ottoman Empire was already in decline. The Ottoman army entered the war in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and was defeated in October 1918. 

Following the Armistice of Mudros, most Ottoman territories were divided between Britain, France, Greece, and Russia.

The Ottoman Empire officially ended in 1922 when the title of Ottoman Sultan was eliminated. Turkey was declared a republic on October 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), an army officer, founded the independent Republic of Turkey.”
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/ottoman-empire#section_10

The undoing of the Ottoman Empire was the finest example of a beast being killed. But did it go away completely? 

“It began its rebirth only five years later with the Muslim Brotherhood. Founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928, the group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organizations in Egypt, despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965, and 2013 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood_in_Egypt

As I, humorously, mentioned to a friend, the downfall of the Ottoman empire allowed us to make movies like Casa Blanca with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, where Algeria, Morocco, and Libya were considered relatively peaceful, beautiful places to visit after the war. He laughed, but all those places were tourist locations until the late seventies. That friend had recently taken a vacation in Algeria and said it was intimidating for foreigners.

So, the Islamic empire remained effectively dead until 1979.

Were there people following after Islam?

Certainly, but they were a non-issue. If you can find pictures of Iran or Afghanistan, you will find them looking like democratically run nations. In effect, they had relative freedoms, but that all changed with the Islamic revolution.

How did this affect America?

The majority of Americans were completely at a loss when our American Embassy in Iran was taken, hostage. We were told that this was an Iranian revolution, when in fact it was an Islamic revolution. So, in 1979 the Islamic caliphate, began, once again, to raise its ugly head. To this very day, America regards all negative conversations about Islam as hate speech and uses businesses like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook to prevent people from pointing out the truth and talking about what we know because we still have a constitution and freedom of speech. You see, businesses used to have signs on the door that said, no shoes, no shirt, no service. Now they kick you out if you express an opinion.

Let me ask you this, do you see any other organization or country having as great an effect, or doing as much damage to the global community as Islam?

The answer is a definitive NO. But let's not take my word for it, what does scripture say.

Revelation 17:8 NLT  The beast you saw was once alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died.

Lacking “Christians,” the whole world of people whose names are NOT written in the Book of Life will stand in awe of this entity we are calling a woman, just as the Apostle John did. In Revelation 17:7, we are told that John stood in “wonder.” The Greek for that word is awe. He was standing in awe of the woman dressed in scarlet and adorned with gold and who was drunk with the blood of the saints - a word directed expressly toward the tribulation believers who are killed for their witness.

A rather long introduction, so let's move on. Even John is taken back by what he sees and so the explanations continue.

I am curious, do you think John grasped what was being said?

I am quite sure he saw these things as a tremendous horror that was going to come upon the earth – this being said about a man whom they had already attempted to boil in oil.

Revelation 17:9 NLT  “This calls for a mind with understanding: The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules. They also represent seven kings.

The word translated here as understanding was only translated as wisdom in the King James version. That does not make the KJV more correct as both words apply. However, to say someone has wisdom spreads a broad blanket over them and we tend to give them more respect. Understanding can have a more narrow application.

My friend’s dad was a great salesman and an excellent golfer, but he could not put a battery in a car. He did not have the understanding, or what some would call common sense, to do that. I know this about him from experience.

I am struck by the Greek word that John used here, sophia. In the book, The Shack, the Holy Spirit is portrayed as an intangible entity, much like the Holy Spirit, characterized as wind. It was only when Sam, the main character, requested did Sarayu slow down long enough to be seen, sort of. In an article by Dr. Paul Coulter, entitled, Exploring the Shack, he refers to an interview of William Paul Young in which this explanation of Sarayu was given. 

“Young explains in his interview with Kim Gravel that this name, which is a Hindi word for a refreshing wind, was suggested to him by an Indian friend. He had been looking for a word that carried a sense of the Spirit as a wind, which is a biblical image of the Spirit’s activity (John 3:8; Acts 2:2). In fact, the Greek word for spirit, pneuma, also means wind. The derivation of the name and the ethereal nature of Sarayu make this depiction of the Spirit relatively easy to accept, especially since most Christians are unlikely to conceive of the Spirit as either male or female. In fact, the clear depiction of the Spirit as a person is probably a healthy redress to the tendency some believers have to think of Him as merely an impersonal force to be referred to as “it.”  https://www.bethinking.org/culture/exploring-the-shack

Since we are focusing on the word understanding at the moment, it seems that our learning should be, focused, at times, on specifics and at other times generally.

Wisdom/understanding has a multitude of synonyms – alternate words. A shortlist might look like this.

• Perception

• Apprehension

• Discernment

• Agreement

• Inclination

• Reason

• Intellect

You can apply varying terms to an issue to better comprehend what is being said at any given time. In other words, you are learning and gaining wisdom that can then be applied to various things. Discernment is that aspect of our lives that often keeps us safe, while agreement aligns you with an assertion from someone else, even if it’s not true.

Before I dig this hole much deeper, let me say that a word such as wisdom may seem like a simple assertion. But you may have just finished watching every Harry Potter movie and reasoned that wisdom primarily applies to the casting of spells; therefore, in your perception, you have no reason to pursue the alternate meanings behind that word. Unfortunately, this kind of inclination can cause you to lose out on an opportunity to improve your understanding.

The explanations continue.

Revelation 17:9-10 NASB (9) "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, (10) and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.

The seven heads are:

• “seven mountains on which the woman sits,”

  The traditional interpretation says this is Rome and the Catholic church. While I would agree that the pope has gone fully apostate, that is for the moment irrelevant. With that said, I turn to the Old Testament, where I find an interesting statement in Jeremiah. Here Babylon is called a destroying mountain.

  Jeremiah 51:24-25 MKJV  And I will give to Babylon, and to all the people of Chaldea, all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah.  (25)  Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, who destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out My hand on you and roll you down from the rocks and will make you a burned mountain.

  If I were to take this literally, then I would be considering volcanoes of some height. The problem with that is that volcanoes are localized events and do not destroy all the earth. The obvious assumption is that this is NOT a physical location but a spiritual consideration.

  The word destroying is the Hebrew word mashchı̂yth and also means ruin, destruction, destructive, literally a snare, and figuratively corruption.

  In a previous post, I talked about what Babylon could possibly mean since to this day it is a wasteland. One of the things I discussed was how Nimrod had built Babel, the beginnings of Babylon, and how all those related to Babylon were violent, destructive people. Israel went into captivity for seventy years at the hands of Babylon, and the story of Esther had an association with the murderous people of that region.

  No one can sit in seven places at once, unless they are a CEO leading offices scattered over these locations. It is difficult, at best, to get the church to see Babylon as a corporation.

• “and they are seven kings;”

  seven kings - Albert Barnes says, “Literally, as denoting a king, or one who exercises royal authority; denoting one of distinguished honor. In a still larger sense, as denoting a dynasty, a form of government, a mode of administration, as what, in fact, “rules.””

  This last one fits this global attempt at a government, which I feel is already upon us. And, as though you got whipped cream on your hot chocolate, Charles, the Prince of Wales, is a part of this governing body, whether we like it or not.

  Kings is the Greek word basileus and comes through the notion of a foundation of power.

• “five have fallen,”

  Consider that this message is meant to be understood. So, for John, there may actually be an understanding of who these leaders would have been. For example Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, Alexander, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. There is the possibility of Roman rule in this mix, but I don't know that for sure. This information would have been passed along orally.

• “one is, the other has not yet come;.”

  Again, John may have been aware of who this was. But you need to keep something in mind, what we think we perceive as a singularity, came out of those who make up the fourth and final beast – out of which we find Alexander the Great, Ptolemy, and Seleucus. As I have said, there is no gap as we await the coming Roman empire, because there is nothing in scripture that tells us that we are waiting for the Roman Empire.

  The one piece of evidence used to uphold this argument for the Romans, comes from Daniel where it speaks of, the people of the prince that is to come.

  Daniel 9:26 NASB "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.

  To follow this line of reasoning you have to ignore the recorded historical accounts of both Josephus and Tacitus. Josephus tells us that the Roman General Titus attempted to order the fires to be quenched and the ravaging of the temple to cease. But Josephus's account also spells out how the Assyrian conscript troops, so hating the Jews, refused to obey the orders of Titus. Joel Richardson, in his book, “The Islamic Antichrist,” details how Rome did more to rebuild than to destroy.

  So, if it is the Assyrians that are destroying the temple, then the prince (doesn't this play into these seven who exercise royal authority.) is in all likelihood an Assyrian.

• “ and when he comes, he must remain a little while.”

  Revelation 12:12 NASB Gives us a peculiar insight.

  "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."

  It is difficult to perceive a man fulfilling the role of the devil. Perhaps a better way to understand this is to see Satan in possession of the man.

  If Satan gives someone ALL his power, how does he do that?

  We typically see this as a voluntary possession.

  The idea that he only remains a little while seems puzzling unless you apply the pretext of scripture.

  "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." (Revelation 12:12 NASB)

  How much time does he have?

  We act like he will have a cataclysmic impact on the earth for seven years. We do that because he initiates a seven-year peace treaty, which he breaks after 1,240 days. This break causes much grief, on both sides of this war. If you remove the idea of a one-world religion out of the mix, what's left will be the fight to grab Israel's oil. On that note, you can see why many will be angry with a decision, that brings about the destruction of the infrastructure of Israel.

  With this person playing the beast role, as the antichrist, and he steps out of the way at 1,240 days, who is left to play the bad guy?

  Many will look at me sideways because they still think that the global, new world order, will still be calling the shots. Hardly, because at this point the false prophet, who has converted over to Islam, will become the shot caller for Islam.

  This is the event which was Jesus was pointing to when He said, the tribulation will become so great (and deadly,) that NO ONE will survive unless the Father cuts time short.

  All this applies to the idea of what Revelation 17:10 is saying that he must remain a little while.

I have to cut this off here as Revelation 17 carries on with more and slightly repetitive explanations.

We are here to learn and understand. I have had enough teaching that was so intricate that no one understood it, nor am I interested in candy fluff which does not teach me anything.

Know this.

We the church will be taken out of here, and soon. Those who are left, the tares who thought they were followers of Jesus Christ, when they were nothing more than seat warmers, will go through an eye opening and deadly experience. Two, the pressure that is coming on the world will be deadly and you will feel like you are drowning. Three, all this death and destruction will be happening during the time when God is pouring out His wrath upon the nations and Israel. Everyone left on earth will fall under one of those two categories.

Now, while you still may have time

Admit that you are a sinner. This boils down to the realization that you are broken, we all are, and that you cannot fix this on your own.

Believe in Jesus Christ. There is NO other answer. Oh sure, if you are stupid, even during the time of wrath, you will find that there is NO other way to the Father. Heaven, peace, and life in the heavenly kingdom, only happen because you give your life to Jesus.

And Confess – Jesus, I have come to realize that there is no hope without you. And you already paid, with your life, so that I could have this life and peace with the Father. I accept and receive your life in me.