Remember who the whore is.  You don’t want to get things backward: the Antichrist is not going to give power to the church, the apostate religious system.  The religious system is going to give power to the Antichrist, and in fact, to where the church becomes so manipulative in Antichrist’s kingdom that he hates them (this apostate system) and turns and destroys them.  Unless we forget, it’s this apostate system that is the first power we’re going to have to deal with.  This apostate system, the church, will be under the influence of the whore, but not the Antichrist.  How do we know that?  Because the only thing that’s keeping Antichrist from being in dominion right now is the church.  He that now restrains will restrain until the church is taken out of the way, 2 Thessalonians 2:7 tells us, at the sound of the trumpet; amen?  But, regardless of what we encounter, we will stand, praise God.  The church triumphant will stand.  We, the church, are invincible, praise God, in this hour and we will continue to restrain that full power of lawlessness, that full power of these blasphemies.  As long as the church is here, there is a semblance of righteousness and justice and truth on the earth.  O God, what’s happened to truth, Isaiah 59:14 says, “truth is fallen in the street.”  Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil.” 

How much further will it go?  We see children standing up right now defying their parents.  Children being taught what to say, “I’ll call the social workers and they will come and arrest you.  You can’t spank me, I have rights.”  And it’s happening younger and younger, whether it be the rights of abortion or the rights of medical consent.  These children rule the homes.  Broken order, lawlessness, women taking over, not only domestically but civilly.  We see it across and even some of you born-again, Spirit-filled women, when I make statements like that, you get this little twinge in you.  You’d better have God’s order as the foundation for your hearts and understand God’s methods.  Our job is to go preach against sin.  The only cause that separates man from God the sin “because they believe not on me” (John 16:9).

What does the real church look like in the last days and what’s the whore look like?  “And I saw the [whore, this church] drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Revelation 17:6).  Wow!  What kind of seductive power are we talking about?  And then you have a little band over here that stands and says “No, that’s not the way, this is the way.”  A little band that identifies with the old rugged cross.  A little band that promotes “No, it’s not about loving yourself and promoting yourself.”  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).  “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).  It’s about seeking to become a servant rather than a lord.  Do we seek to be obedient to the Master instead of being pre-eminent?  What a contrast!  And we’re going to be hated of all men and then, there will be a trumpet and we’ll be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52).  “We’ll see Him and we’ll be like Him” (1 John 3:2).

We need to ask God to open our eyes.  “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest they should believe the light of the glorious gospel” (2 Corinthians 4:4).  His Word is truth.