- This topic has 1 reply, 1 voice, and was last updated 12/18/2017 at 2:04 pm by
.
-
Posts
-
John paints pictures of two women in the Book of Revelation that he saw in his vision. One woman is in Revelation 12. The other is in Revelation 17. What is the meaning of each of these signs?
One woman appears to represent God’s people who belong fully to Him and are under His control by their own choice and are living and walking in His light.
The other seems to represent those in bondage to Satan who are under under His control, both Christians and non-Christians.
The characteristics of the woman described in each chapter show what God blesses and what He curses. God’s call for His people to come out of the Revelation 17 woman should cause believers to stop and soberly consider if God is calling applies to them.
What traits do you see in each of these women that apply to today’s situation in the church? What things does God call us as believers to come out of?
The following are some characteristics of groups (churches, ministries, organizations) that I see which make them a fit with the woman described in Revelation 17. I believe that when these things exist as established practices among those who say they are His people, God calls: “Come out of her my people.”
That means that if we find ourselves among a group of Christians whose practice any of the following things (bulleted) that are forbidden by the word of God, if they will not make a course correction, we should heed God’s call to “come out of her” and seek fellowship elsewhere. Such groups, according to Revelation 17, will experience “curses and plagues,” which we will also partake in, if we remain there. We will not be protected from attacks by the devil, because such ongoing sins give him legal ground to attack God’s people. They also hinder God answering His people’s prayers:
- Idolatry (serving or exalting or promoting persons, ministries, governing visions, or any thing more than Christ Himself; for example, absolute following of a gifted person or allegiance to one ministry as the only one that is of God. What do you hear about the most?)
- Presence of broken or damaged relationships in God’s family (the blood of the saints shed by others in the so-called family of God; sexual sin that is tolerated in the family of God; no evidence of reconciliation attempts as Jesus commanded (Matt. 18 and 5)
- “Lording-it-over” practices which result in woman having no standing of her own before God but only being allowed to ride on the back of hierarchical practices controlled by the great dragon (This includes exercising authoritarian male dominance over female believers.)
Agree? If so, what are some examples of these that you know about first hand or that you have read about on the internet from reliable sources? (Please check out your sources before you post links to them, or tell us that you haven’t checked them out!) Disagree? If so, please give biblical support for your disagreement.
- Want to reply? You must be logged in. You can log in below (mobile device) or at the top right side of this page. After you log in, click (or tap) the date of the first item in the Latest Topics list to return to this place and reply.