Some of the symbols or metaphors in Revelation are different ways to illuminate the same things. For example, the false church is called “The Great Harlot” and “Mystery Babylon” because each of these titles reflect a basic aspect of its nature.

       The false church is called “the Great Harlot” because she was to be the pure, chaste virgin espoused to Christ, but she could not wait for Him and played the harlot with those of this world. It is called “Mystery Babylon” because it is built by those with the same motivation as the...

       As we continue to study the two churches portrayed in Revelation—the church God is building and the one man is building—we want to be careful not to become reactionary. We instead want to seek a vision for what God is doing so that our hearts are in it, to give ourselves to become part of His work, not just tear down the work of others.

       The Reformation’s leaders understood the errors of the institutional church very well, and they illuminated these errors brilliantly. Then, they went on to make some of the same...

        “Mystery Babylon” in the book of Revelation is an illuminating title for the false church—man’s church that man tried to build—and it became an antithesis and persecutor of God’s church. This title reveals the roots and nature of this false church, which are in man. Mankind has not ceased to try to build what was begun in Genesis 11:1-4: 

       “Now all the earth used the same language and the same words. And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Then...

       The apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthians—and to us—in 2 Corinthians 11:2-3: “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his trickery, your minds will be led astray from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”

       Perhaps the most devastating thing institutional religion has done to the Christian faith is complicate it, causing Christians to be more devoted to rituals and principles than to simply...

      In Matthew 24:4-5, Jesus warns about the troubles to come upon the world at the end of the age: “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will mislead many people.” After the warning not to be misled, He addresses what is likely to be the most serious deception—that many would come saying that He, Jesus, was indeed the Christ yet would still be deceivers. This has certainly been true, as many today are preaching that Jesus is the Christ, but they are...