Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
In and ideal world children would always obey their parents and stay within the family fold, yes? Raised in certain beliefs they'd carry on in those beliefs teaching their children who would then teach their children and so on forever. That's in an ideal world. Are there situations where it seems that families have gone on century after century living as they were taught to live without question? Certainly there are, but it's rare.
Why do we have so many different religions today? Because Satan would have something that appeals to everyone. When all those recognizes somethings stop appealing and people start drifting away that's okay too, it suits his purposes well. Did God intend that we should have hundreds of different religions to choose from? Did he intend that we even have 3 great faiths as is were, to choose from? No. The intention was never that man would have to make that choice and yet a choice had to be available. Not for 3 faiths or 1000 faiths. The choice has forever been between God and Not God. People protest loudly and say we all worship the same God just in different ways. Would God be so vastly different in those religions contridicting one another? Does that make sense? This church has a statement of beliefs that is nothing like the next one and yet they worship the same God? If I say I'm a follower of the Catholic church I'm saying I believe in the Pope. If I say I'm a follower of Islam, I say I believe in Mohammad. If I say I'm a Protestant I'm declaring that I'm not a follower of the Catholic church or Islam. What we claim to be, what we claim to follow declares to one and all what we believe.
Just recently my mother was in the hospital and they asked her what her religion was, she looked at me and I said Non-demnominational. What did I mean by that? I meant that she believes, but doesn't adhere to any one denomination. She doesn't declare to follow any one specfic religion. With so many religions out there claiming their beliefs to be the true ones to follow isn't that the safest way to be?
We believe in God and God tells us if we love Him to keep His commandments. He declares that by our works we are known. He sent His Son and His Son revealed the Father to us in His every day life, in His words. When the first followers of Christ stepped away from their Jewish fold, a belief system that heldfast to rituals and the belief that a Messiah was still to come rather than had come, they believed in a God that offered forgiveness through the life of His Son as promised. They moved away from the way things had been for God's chosen people, but they moved forward by the revelation of God in Jesus, His Son. We were given Jesus and all His teachings that would keep us until the end when He would return and take us home with Him.
Now people will shout that we all interpret things differently and therefore the different interpretations demand different religions and what does it all matter if it's God we believe in. The questions are good ones. The trouble is that religions tend to focus on their interpretation of beliefs excluding any other possibility of interpretation. We have to be descriminatory people say.
What's all this to do with Rev. 17:1-2?
There are only TWO sides. Those who follow Satan and those who follow God. There aren't several sides. There is the whore with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, the inhabitants of earth have drunk her wine - the guilty.
Two sides not a hundred with half for God and half for Satan.
Two sides.
We have to hold fast to just God and His truths in the Bible as He reveals to us. It's not our place to put them into a denominational setting and get others to believe in our denominations beliefs. We need to live our lives as Christ would have us live, not concentrate on setting up a church among thousands of churches. The day when there was one true church is long gone in the sense it can be named. The Catholic church believes they are the one true church and all others are stray sheep wandered from the fold that need to return. We know that's not true through past studies. May God Bless us as we open our hearts and minds to Him fully and seek His way and only His way through His Word, through His Son, by His grace and mercy now and forever.
Amen.
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