Revelation 17

“The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss and go to destruction. Those who live on the earth, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the World will be astounded when they see the beast that was, and is not, and will be present again.”  Revelation 17:8 (HCSB)

One of the best ways for a company to grow is to diversify. Take the soft drink industry, for example. Many years ago, there were two main soft drink brands: Coke & Pepsi. Soft drink buyers were polarized. So, what did these companies do to take away business from each other? They began to diversify.  

Let’s focus on Coke. Coke doesn’t only want to sell you a Coke, per se; they’re after your beverage-buying dollar. Today, whether you purchase Dr. Pepper, Sprite, A&W, Nescafe, or over 400 other brands worldwide…the money goes back to Coca-Cola. To compete with Pepsi, all Coke had to do was introduce new brands into the marketplace and get out of the way. People who may have had a negative opinion of the Coke brand would have a higher probability of buying one of these other products instead of Pepsi. No problem. Coke still makes money.      

Some people are surprised when they discover that Coke manufactures their favorite beverage, like Dasani water, for example.  

There is a notion in our culture that following Jesus is one choice among many gods & religions. The reality is that the followers of those so-called gods & religions will be astonished to see the originator of their belief systems was Satan! Satan diversified.

In Revelation 17, the angel reveals that Satan “was, is not, and will be present again.”  This is opposed to God, who “was, and IS, and is to come.”  While God’s presence has remained constant throughout history, Satan’s approach has been stealthier. Satan’s goal is to increase mankind’s “options” for religious choice. Instead of choosing between God and Satan, mankind can choose between several religious opinions. Then, Satan hid himself because only a crazy person would choose to worship Satan outright! Only in the end will Satan be revealed as the father of ALL false religions.  

If Satan had a name for his “parent company,” it would be “Mystery Babylon.”  Described as a prostitute, Mystery Babylon has made the nations drunk with idolatry and false religion.

Satan’s downfall is his pride; he is jealous of worship. Of course, ALL worship belongs to God alone. Soon, it will not be enough for Satan to lure worship away from God. Eventually, Satan will expose himself as the originator of all false religions by demanding all men worship him directly. This will effectually destroy “the Prostitute.”

In the end, everything comes back to only two choices for the worshipper: God or Satan. Since only Messiah Jesus leads to salvation, why not choose Him today?