False Religion and Secular Government

Revelation 17 presents the secular government and false religion mixed together in the end times to form a dysfunctional yet powerful union. John sees the prostitute of Babylon (false religion) seated on a beast with 7 heads and 10 horns (political power).

This combination of religion and world domination in the end will lay a heavy burden on those who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Martyrdom will result and a final battle will ensue in which Jesus Christ will conquer.

But John notes an interesting detail of this relationship between false religion and secular government. It seems their happy union will end destructively after all:





Revelation 17:16–17 (ESV) And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

Secular government is always fine with religion as long as it can use religion for it's own purposes. But once those purposes are through watch out, governments have a way of doing what is absolutely in their own best interests regarding such persuasions.

What is the lesson for the church today?
We must be separate! Any government - church relationship will be detrimental to the mission of the Church. The Church is called OUT from the world and its system of corruption. We cannot play politics and get involved in civilian affairs. Our calling is higher. Our mission is much more important. Our cause is more profound.

The allure of power and influence is strong in the church. Leaders can be seduced into political power. I remember hearing even of Billy Graham who got very close to the Nixon administration and even slipped when speaking about the Jews in a recorded message. But after that incident and the subsequent Watergate scandal, Graham quickly learned the valuable lesson that politics were not the power he needed to tell the world about Jesus. His faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit of God empowered the rest of his life.  For the man/woman of God must never rely on the power structures of this Earth to get Christ's mission done!

Today the Church is suffering from a different dynamic. The World's system wants nothing to do with us. The Clergy of this country used to have prominent places in society. Preacher and priests were regarded as upstanding citizens to be called upon in significant moments and sought out for wise counsel. The moral majority of the previous generation held great sway in the Republican party. Preachers proclaimed the conservative agenda with great gusto for years to the thronging voters in the pews. 

But all our politicking of the past did was send many people out the doors and make us look angry and mean. Because of social issues like homosexuality and abortion, we are marginalized and ostracized as back-woods uninformed out-dated fruit loops. 

What will we do?

We will do what the Apostles did! We will rely NOT on politics or government or the world's system. We will rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and see the great revival of our future come about by revisiting the narrative in our past! May the Lord grant us a new revival in the Holy Spirit to worship and pray, yes, but then to get out of our church building and draw people to Christ with great boldness as the Early Church did so well.

We will do what Revelation 17 tells us we are going to do... We will follow our leader, the Lamb of God and the King of kings:

Revelation 17:14 (ESV) They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

May it be soon, Lord Jesus!

Amen.