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	Word of Prophecy Fellowship		July-August 2005

				THE GOOD NEWS - LETTER


	THE WORLD CHURCH PART 1 OF 2 Abridged by Bro. Ray Pringle, Jr.
The extravagantly dressed woman on the fierce7-headed beast is God's prophetic symbol of the rising world church or religious system subservient to the coming antichrist and false prophet. While the true church sleeps, the World Church is closing in upon us--ever nearer draws the savage persecution upon God's saints, as characterized by the 7 slashing heads of the beast upon which the woman of Revelation 17 rides.



	THE WORLD CHURCH A militantly hostile paganism cloaked in a form of religion, like a dark spectre, is arising within this spiritually bankrupt generation. A world church, the result of worldwide ecumenicism, absorbed in an arrogant form of Christianity is rising, viciously intent upon the elimination of God's true saints who dogmatically insist that God reveals Himself in the Bible, rules the universe, will judge and punish all sin, and that He sent Jesus His Son to save only those who truly repent. The archaic old guidelines that have their origin in the Word of God are no longer tolerable to the worldly professors of being Christ's disciples who have filled the churches of this generation. The worldly crowd in the church have suddenly realized that they are in the majority after all, and the "holy Joes" are not welcome. The guidelines of the Word of God are a threat to their absolute permissiveness--the good guys must go! Upon this foundation of disbelief and rebellion of God's Word--a despising of that which wants to get specific and absolute about God's demands for a holy life-style, the World Church of the False Prophet and Antichrist is being formed. Permissiveness in behavior, rebellion against authority, a rejection of established patterns of morals and ethics and speaking authoritatively about God, are dominating signs of our end-time age. God's Word is very specific in the prophetic scriptures concerning the denial of religious liberty to God's saints in the end-time generation through the influence and authority of an all-powerful World Church. BABYLON ARISES THROUGH CONFUSION Our cover page carries the symbol of the World Church--Babylon! This was the name of an ancient empire having a god-emperor, who demanded worship or a burning fiery furnace! Daniel 5. The name Babylon means "confusion of tongues or languages." Many church denominations proffer a counterfeit Holy Ghost baptism and a mimicking of speaking in other tongues as in Acts 2, and this is the source of the greatest confusion in Christendom ever. This is all a work of seducing spirits of demons leading all counterfeit Christians into the camp of the Antichrist and False Prophet--into the World Church! "The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see." Isaiah 13:1. The vision is for the end-time generation whose saints will face barbaric persecution in an hostile environment: "Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt...Behold, the day of the LORD--cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it." Isaiah 13:6-9. The church of today is in a festive mood, eating and drinking, singing and being entertained, studiously and callously ignoring the warning of the Holy Ghost by God's prophets that a storm is rising--a storm of great violence, persecution to God's saints, and God's great judgments soon to fall upon us--and, the church is going straight into this Gathering Storm for several years in duration. May God give you ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church as this message continues. A FALSE CHRIST WILL SOON APPEAR The antichrist is the devil's masterpiece--a clever counterfeit of Jesus Christ. The devil is the god of this world (II Corinthians 4:4); he is also prince of this world (John 14:30). The devil desires worship as God. (Luke 4:6-7). His puppet, the antichrist, will be put on the throne of this world, masquerading as Jesus Christ to deceive the nations into worship of



	himself, and the devil. "And they worshipped the dragon (devil) which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, (antichrist) saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?" Revelation 13:4. The end or the Day of the Lord cannot come until the antichrist and his kingdom have run their prophetic course. "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." II Thessalonians 2:3-4. MIRACLE WORKERS The antichrist and the false prophet will be acclaimed worldwide as wonder workers sent from God--the antichrist, even God himself. The false prophet will create a world religion--worship of the antichrist and his image, accompanied by signs, wonders and miracles--the image of antichrist even given life! Revelation 13:15. The Apostle Paul speaks of the revealing of the son of perdition rising to prominence, prestige, and power through the deception of miracles. "And then shall that Wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." II Thessalonians 2:8-9. The miracles of the false prophet will be lying wonders--phony miracles! But people who gad about in search of wonders and miracles, like many professing Christians today do--they will be deceived. People who love miracles more than the preaching of God's true word will receive "a strong delusion from God that they might believe the false prophet's lie." II Thessalonians 2:11-12. "He (antichrist) had power to give life unto the image of the beast." Revelation 13:15. This image is set up in the holy of holies in the temple of God in Jerusalem by the antichrist. The "life" is just a demon inside the image. "He doeth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." Revelation 13:13. This awesome display of power to destroy will terrify statesmen and generals of all nations. This political blackmail will force them into the kingdom of the beast. However, in reality, the fire is only seeming, not real. Later, kings and generals discover the subterfuge, and begin to revolt from under the tyranny of the antichrist, and make war with him. Daniel 11:40. Also the frogs that come out of the mouth of the beast and false prophet are not real--they are seducing spirits of devils. Revelation 16:13. SYMBOL OF THE WORLD CHURCH The rise of the world church will be simultaneous with the rise of the kingdom of the antichrist. The world church will ride the power and popularity of the antichrist to prominence and authority---world-wide. The National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches--ecumenicism is paving the way for Protestantism to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church. The Greek and Russian Orthodox churches will also be a part of this great ecclesiastical octupus of seven terrible heads. Other dead and apostate religions will join forces with these--but Rome will be the capital of the world church and of the false prophet. The antichrist will reign from Jerusalem. The beast out of the sea (Revelation 13) had seven heads and ten horns. "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world (inhabited world) wondered after the beast." Revelation 13:3. The seven heads have a two-fold symbolism: the seven major religions of the world, and the city of Seven Hills--Rome, capital of the World Church. "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth." Revelation 17:9. The deadly wound on the beast historically was inflicted by Martin Luther in the 16th Century as the Reformation broke the power of the Catholic church and the guillotine, ending a long night of terror to God's saints. Prophetically, that wound will be healed soon and the hydraheaded monster will regain his power through the world church and the antichrist. The Catholic guillotine will soon return to its medieval position of terror--the execution of God's saints. "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Revelation 20:4.



	WORLD CHURCH: THE GREAT WHORE "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: 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. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast (antichrist), full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." Revelation 17:1-3. A woman in prophetic scripture symbolizes a church. The true church is represented by the woman clothed in white (Revelation 19:7-8)the wife of Jesus Christ. The woman in Revelation 17:3 symbolized a corrupt church, usurping authority and respect as the body of Christ--the true church. "The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls." (Revelation 17:4)characteristic of the ritual and pageantry of dead Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and pagan religions. BABYLON IS RISING AGAIN Paganism and religion are making accommodations for each other and merging. Ancient Babylon with its god-emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, demanded worship or the fiery furnace! (Daniel 2). Their ministers were given to astrology, sorcery, magic, and devil worship. The Word of God was not honored or taught. Idolatry was universal, even in Israel. The saints of God were persecuted, banished or slain. Babylonianism is returning. The great whore of Revelation 17 "had upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (verse 5). The woman was drunken on the blood of the saints. (verse 6). The world church will martyr God's saints. The antichrist will use the great whore's power to make war with the saints and overcome them. Revelation 17:3. Compare Revelation 13:7 again. Who is the woman? "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." Revelation 17:18. What city reigns over the kings of the earth? To which city do kings, presidents, prime ministers and religious leaders go courting papal favor? Rome! The Vatican! Most churches in America and the western cultured nations belong to the World Council of Churches. The church of Rome is not a full member presently, but is an "observer" and fellow traveler. Theologians of the dead and apostate Protestant churches spawn "paraphrased" and perverted Bibles to hasten "ecumenicism" with Rome. The King James Bible is under attack because it is the only thoroughly true English Bible. Now, the Common Bible and several corrupt versions have become accepted by Catholics and Protestants alike--identities in doctrine and worship come ever closer through compromise. PERSECUTION OF GOD'S SAINTS ARISING Believe me, saints of God, we are getting closer to the persecution predicted by Jesus Christ by "Babylon," the great whore. "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another." Matthew 24:9-10. The church will be thoroughly purged by fire before Jesus takes His Bride! "I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues...These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." Revelation 7:9,14. "And I saw...them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name." Revelation 15:2. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Acts 14:22. Believe me, people of God, we are going into a furnace of fire and suffering--to purge and to try us, to make us white--before Jesus comes. "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Daniel 12:10.



	Word of Prophecy Newsletter Published by: Word of Prophecy Fellowship, PO Box 10200, Jacksonville, FL 32247 WWW.WordOfProphecy.org Editor Bro. Ray Pringle, Jr., an ordained minister of Calvary Chapel Church of God, Inc. Associate Editor...June Carpenter Copyrighted - All rights reserved